FoxHunter
by Alacron
Summary: When the ShikiFujin fails, Naruto goes through drastic changes. Follow his new life as FoxHunter, aspiring Hunternin of Konoha.
1. Birth of the FoxHunter

Fox-Hunter

Chapter I

The Kyuubi raged in the forest. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to its attacks, it simply attacked whatever had caught its attention at that moment. Leaf shinobi were fighting, or at least attempting to, the gigantic nine-tailed fox, but they could only succeed in getting themselves killed.

That was the scene that the Yondaime-Hokage came upon, as he rode upon the toad-boss' head. In his arms was a child, who was amazingly quiet considering the situation. Despite being a newborn, he already had a full head of blonde hair, and shining blue eyes, _'Just like his father…'_ thought the gigantic toad. He puffed a bit of smoke as he fell from another gigantic leap.

There were a few cheers from the ninjas below when the Yondaime had arrived, but he didn't acknowledge them. As he began to fall into a set of hand seals, a spiral seal began to form slowly on his stomach, as well as the stomach of the young child in his arms. The Kyuubi was before them, snarling in unholy rage, three of its tails were clutching gigantic uprooted trees, ready to throw them or use them as weapons at any time.

Suddenly, everything Kyuubi saw became black, except for the Hokage and the brat in his arms. The Hokage was completely stoic, not a single emotion betrayed his face. A tall, dark figure slowly came into view behind the Hokage. The Kyuubi's eyes widened at the sight. _'Shinigami'_ the Kyuubi, for the first time in his long life, felt fear. It was a feeling that he didn't want to have; he wanted to be rid of it.

But his fear only increased as the arm of the Shinigami shot out of the infant's stomach. The monster found that he couldn't move, and the gray, clawed fingers latched themselves onto his head. Instantly, his entire body tensed, and two of the trees in his tails' grip shattered into bark. The third, and biggest tree merely cracked under the pressure of Kyuubi no Youko's tail.

Suddenly the hand began pulling him forward, there was nothing he could do to resist as he began to fly toward the child.

As the Kyuubi was forcefully pulled toward the Yondaime and his charge, he became confused. This technique was only supposed to take the spirit of the target, so why was the Kyuubi in its entirety being sealed? The answer dawned on him quickly. The monster before him was a Kitsune, a spirit fox. Its body was its spirit.

Unfortunately, this unexpected turn of events gave the Kyuubi one last swipe of its claw before being completely sealed. Even with its head already completely absorbed, the Kyuubi used every last ounce of strength within it to swipe with it's front paw at the Yondaime. Gamabunta saw the attack, and tried to block the swipe, but only wound up with a huge gash across his left eye.

The swipe continued upward, but the Yondaime could make no attempt to dodge, he could not move with the seal unfinished. But no matter what, it seemed that the seal could never be completed, for even though one massive claw had only grazed his side, the damage was done. The Kyuubi was completely absorbed by the infant's body, but the spiral seal began to recede from his stomach.

Changes began to befall the infant, much to the Yondaime's horror. His hair changed from a shining blonde to a deep orange-red color. He cringed as he saw pointed fox ears appear on top of his now red hair. His eyes became a deep crimson, and the most notable change of all was the tail that sprouted out from his lower back, with fur the same color as his hair.

The young Hokage suddenly became very uneasy on his feet, as he realized that the Shinigami was beginning to take his spirit. Even though the attack had failed, the pact with the Shinigami could not be reversed.

And slowly, death pulled him into its cold arms…

(Scene Break)

Sarutobi hurriedly made his way home. The emergency meeting afterwards had been short and to the point, everybody was informed of what they had to do for the rebuilding effort. Then he excused himself from the building, saying that he had to check on his daughter before focusing on the recovery.

He hadn't dared to bring up Naruto at the meeting, because he knew what their response would be to hearing about a fox child in their midst. He shuddered to think of what measures they may go to in order to 'protect themselves' from him.

He had left the child with his daughter, in order to keep him out of sight while he kept up appearances and thought of what to do with him. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what to do. He knew nothing of what the Kyuubi may have done to him, whether or not he was dangerous or not.

For a time, he entertained the idea of killing the babe. Better safe than sorry right? Did he still retain all of the powers of the kitsune? The memories of Kyuubi? Could he become a citizen of Konoha, or would he go berserk and attack just as the monster had?

He shook his head. He could never bring himself to harm a child, no matter what they may be. He couldn't snuff out that life when he hadn't done anything wrong.

He opened the front door, "Suzume? Are you here?" He called.

She came running to him as he closed the door. She looked absolutely frantic, "Father!" She cried, "I can't find him. Naruto's gone!"

The retired shinobi's eyes widened. He grabbed his daughter's shoulders a bit more harshly than he meant to. "Where did you last see him!"

"I put him down upstairs just a few minutes ago, to answer a few shinobi who were at the door. When I came back, the window was open and he was gone!"

Without missing a beat, Sarutobi tore out the back door and into the woods in front of him. He resisted the urge to call out Naruto's name, since he didn't want to attract the attention of well meaning people who might find Naruto and reveal his existence to the rest of the village.

He search didn't take long though, before long a small fox appeared in front of him. He had encountered foxes before, but this one was too small to be out on its own, too calm to be a normal fox, and its eyes were red.

"Naruto?" He called tentatively.

The fox's gaze intensified, but nodded in recognition of its name.

His first urge was to grab the fox and run back to his house before anyone saw him, but he felt that making Naruto angry at this point would only hurt them both in the long run.

Instead he put on the calmest face he could manage, "Naruto," He said, "you're too… young to be out on your own. Come back to my house, and I'll take care of you."

The fox continued to glare at him, then nodded. Sarutobi picked him up and carried him quickly back to his house.

(Scene Break)

When he returned home, he somewhat dreaded showing his daughter the boy's new form. But to his surprise, when he arrived home, the bundle in his arms had changed back into his semi-human shape.

Naruto's shape shifting abilities weren't the only surprise in store for Sarutobi and his daughter. As they already knew, the fox child could understand them, and he was very good about keeping hidden when other people were allowed inside.

His mental and physical development proceeded rapidly, and by the time he was 1 year old, he could walk and talk like a young adult. They found that he was very cold. He didn't like them and was very vocal about it. He was also arrogant, and Sarutobi had figured it was part of the Kyuubi left over in him. At one time when he was two, Suzume had lost her temper at him and asked him why stayed if he hated them so much.

She had immediately regretted her words when he sent a very vicious glare, transformed into a fox and ran into the woods. Suzume had tried to follow him, but since she had no ninja training, she simply couldn't keep up with him. She returned home, and dreaded the thought of telling her father about what she'd done. However, Naruto had returned a few hours later for dinner, and hadn't spoken a word to her for several days.

One event when he was three, changed the relationship between them forever.

(Scene Break)

Sarutobi had led Naruto to his room at night, as was their routine. At first he would make sure that Naruto had fallen asleep before leaving the room. After his little escape, he'd trusted Naruto not to run given the chance, or at least trusted him to come back if he did.

But as the old man was about to turn out the lights, he heard Naruto sit up.

"Train me." It wasn't a request, and it came with Naruto's usual arrogant tone. Sarutobi looked at little Naruto to see the glare he had grown used to seeing, and his tail was swishing back and forth behind him.

Sarutobi walked back into the room and sat down on the side of Naruto's bed. He gave Naruto what he'd hoped was a calming look. "Why do you want me to train you Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head. He hated being addressed as a child. "It doesn't matter why, you have to train me."

"Naruto-kun, you're too young. And even if you weren't, I'm much too busy to give the attention that a shinobi in training would need."

Naruto's fists clenched around his blanket. "You don't get it." His voice began to rise, "I order you to train me! I have the Kyuubi's blood within me, I have the brains and I have the chakra. I don't care if it's once a day or once a year, but you have to teach me!"

Sarutobi got up, and began to make his to the door. He could imagine Naruto's face twisting with rage at the indignity of being refused.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun bu-"

"Please…"

It was spoken so softly he'd hardly heard it. Sarutobi turned to Naruto, whose head was hanging, as he gripped his blanket harder. A moment of silence passed before Naruto spoke again, "Please… train me. I- I can't stand being this weak."

Sarutobi didn't know what to make of his statement. Did the boy really expect to be so strong already? He was only three, and much too young to begin ninja training. Sure, he was much smarter than the average boy his age, but to him and his daughter, (and son-in-law, for all that he was around to see them) Naruto was just a child, and they treated him as such.

Naruto continued, "I don't want to be protected by you. I don't want you to acknowledge my weakness anymore." Sarutobi had opened his mouth to speak but still the boy went on, "I promise to protect Konoha if you'll just train me."

The old ninja gaped. He supposed that this was as close as Naruto would come to gushing his feelings to him, but Naruto's entire personality suddenly made sense. When he'd changed, he'd inherited the Kyuubi's instincts, and every instinct within him must have been screaming to stop admitting his weakness. Any demon child would have either been in intense training, or left to fend for itself. It was no wonder Naruto was so cold all of the time, every fiber of his psyche told him that this wasn't natural, that it was wrong.

"Okay Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said, "you win. I'll teach you basic chakra manipulation next week, does that sound alright with you?"

Naruto nodded, still not showing his face.

"Goodnight Naruto-kun." Sarutobi turned out the light and left the room.

"…Goodnight Sensei."

(Scene Break)

Naruto's training progressed rapidly, and soon he spent all his waking hours in the study reading whatever books or scrolls he could get his hands on. He could understand the concepts of chakra manipulation, and how they must be channeled into hand-seals to perform jutsus, but he struggled when trying to apply his knowledge.

Once again, Sarutobi chalked this particular oddity to his demonic instincts. He assumed that Kitsune were born with a natural ability to channel their chakra, (or youki, as it probably was) and that having to relearn the whole process in a new body would be a difficult process.

However, any tips that the Sandaime gave his young charge seemed to a moot point, because he only struggled more. After weeks of no progress, Sarutobi came to two conclusions.

One: He was simply too young to begin his training.

Or Two: Because his natural body was neither human, nor demonic, the rules of chakra or youki manipulation were mixed. Strictly following the rules of channeling one or the other was no good to the boy, because his physiology was unique, he would need a unique method for manipulating his chakra.

Because he knew Naruto would never agree to stop training, he urged Naruto to try and find a common ground between channeling youki and channeling chakra. To their delight, it worked. Naruto began having better results in performing simple jutsus, and soon moved up to advanced moves.

By the age of four, Naruto could do the replication and replacement techniques flawlessly. By five he'd moved on to fire techniques, and by six he'd learned how to walk up trees. By seven he'd learned jounin level techniques, like the kage-bunshin, and the kage-shuriken.

When he'd turned eight, Naruto had grown an extra tail, so he'd had two swishing behind him at all times. When asked about this, Naruto had responded, "I should have more, but age plays a factor into how many we get too."

From the ages of eight to ten, Naruto had simply spent the time increasing his repertoire of jutsus, and fine-tuning his control.

While Naruto was ten, one of Konoha's darkest points in their history occurred. The Uchiha genius, Itachi, seemingly went berserk and killed every member of his clan, leaving only his little brother alive. The event became known as the Uchiha massacre.

After an intense discussion, the Sandaime agreed to allow Naruto to become a hunter-nin. He agreed to this, only if Naruto were to come back at least once a month, and that only the Hokage himself chose his targets.

Naruto's first mission was to hunt down a renegade chuunin, one of no notable skill, and whom Naruto should have a relatively easy time defeating. He had returned two days later, unscathed (but that was most likely due to his advanced healing) and with a box. Upon opening the box, the Hokage had discovered that Naruto had brought back the head of the missing-nin.

Naruto had also grown another tail after the experience, bringing his number up to three.

Naruto continued hunting low-level ninjas until the supply did not meet his demand for opponents. In his infinite wisdom, the Hokage had started hiring out Naruto's hunting services to other countries. Naruto had slowly worked his way up the ranks, until he was allowed to start hunting A-class missing-nin.

During this time, Naruto earned a reputation in Konoha and in other countries under his alias, Fox-Hunter. However, the people knew only his alias, and there was no solid evidence as to his existence. His exploits were spread through rumor only.

(Scene Break)

Naruto entered the Hokage's office, looking slightly worse for the wear, at a time when he knew his sensei would have no more appointments. He placed a larger than usual box on the desk, and a one-and-a-half mission report. Sarutobi read the report, then checked inside the box, to find the heads of the demon brothers as well as Momochi Zabuza, Devil of the Mist. Naruto had taken the liberty of putting a freezing jutsu on their heads in order to preserve them.

"Nice work Naruto-kun." His student grunted at the suffix, "The Mizukage has agreed to pay us upon the delivery of the heads. Is their anything else you would like to tell me about the mission?"

Naruto nodded and sat down, and explained how he had met Haku, a young, imposter hunter-nin who he had killed during the mission. He explained of Haku's bloodline-limit, and of his devotion to Zabuza. He told the story of Gatou's rule over the wave country, and how he'd tried to kill a bridge-maker in order to keep his monopoly. He also explained about how he'd killed Gatou and many of his men, in order to keep them from hiring more missing-nin.

Their conversation carried them into the time when Sarutobi would usually leave for home. But before Naruto disappeared, "Naruto-kun wait." He picked up a piece of paper and handed it to his student. "I thought you might be interested."

Naruto took the piece of paper and looked it over. "Chuunin exam?" He'd whispered.

"I thought it was about time for you to get out and meet people, especially those your own age."

Naruto looked at the form, "Why not?" and signed his name at the bottom.

(Scene Break)

AN: End of chapter one of another of my weird ideas. Read, review, repeat.


	2. The New Examiner

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 2

AN: Wow, so many reviews in one day, that's… pretty friggin' sweet. I'd like to answer a few questions before I start the new chapter.

About moving the story too fast: The first chapter, I was really just trying to get the setting out of the way, so that I could write the parts that I really wanted to. This chapter will have more character interaction, as well as fleshing Naruto's relationship with the Sandaime's family.

About my knowledge of Kitsune legends: Pretty much all learned from various fics around I do know that Kitsune have fox forms, can transform to humans, earn tails through rank, strength, age, that sort of thing. I also know that promises made by Kitsunes are binding, and can't be broken.

About Naruto's power level and age: Naruto is capable of defeating Zabuza and Haku, but it definitely wasn't easy. Naruto may act arrogant, and he may look fine by the time that the Hokage saw him, but he's had a few days to heal, and he still looks pretty ragged.

About team 7: Naruto won't be placed on their team, but they will be an important part of the story. This also applies to the rest of the Rookie-9 and Gai's team.

About youki: Someone said that I had misspelled youkai when I wrote the last chapter. I'm really not sure if this is right or not, but I meant youki, as in demonic energy. I read it in some other Naruto fics, as well as in a few Yu Yu Hakusho fics.

About pairings: I don't plan on having any, but if I do, it will just be "so-and-so hooked up with so-and-so." I did have an idea for a side-fic, but that's not for a while.

And no, I do not write Yaoi. I could go on, but I wont.

Now for the story!

(Scene Break)

During dinner that night, Sarutobi told his daughter and grandson about his plans for Naruto and the Chuunin exam. Suzume was slightly nervous, but encouraging to her adoptive family, Konohamaru on the other hand…

"WOW! Naruto-niisan, you're going to kick everybody's butts in the exam, aren't you?"

Naruto shrugged, while chewing on some rice, "Don't know, it's an exam so it might just be some stupid written test. Besides, I'll only be actually fighting them if they're stupid enough to attack me."

"Well," Suzume said, "I was thinking about your appearance."

"What about it?" Naruto swallowed his rice.

Suzume looked slightly nervous, as though she might offend him, "Well… I'm not sure that people would take kindly to a half-demon running around freely. I think that we should disguise you a bit, to make sure people don't get the wrong idea about you."

Sarutobi took a sip of tea, "We've got a week until the exams start, and so we could work on your genjutsu during that time."

Naruto gave a snort. It was no secret that despite his being half-Kitsune, he hated using genjutsu. It partly because he just didn't like using illusions, and mostly because of the surprising fact that he sucked at them. But then again, the Kyuubi hadn't exactly been keen on using illusions when it had attacked their village.

"Oi, Niisan. Can I have the rest of your soy sauce?"

Naruto picked up the small cup with his tail and handed it to Konohamaru.

"That's another thing," Sarutobi started, "You should try to do that with your tails less. Even if you use genjutsu, people will still be able to feel them if you use them."

Naruto gave his sensei a sharp look, but said nothing.

Suzume giggled, "Don't be so serious, you're only twelve years old after all." She tickled the back of one of his ears playfully. Naruto shivered, then shot her a reproachful look.

"Don't. Do. That."

She only laughed again, along with Konohamaru and Sarutobi.

(Scene Break)

Sarutobi let out a sigh, "No Naruto, that's not it."

Naruto, sans tails and ears, looked indignant. "What d'you want? My tails and ears are gone aren't they?"

Sarutobi rubbed his forehead, "Yes, but you've missed certain things, like your lack of any ears at all. There are also your red eyes, as well as the claws and fangs."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "The Inuzuka's have claws and fangs, and I heard Yuuhi-san has red eyes too. And besides, I don't think people will paying too much attention to my _ears_"

"Naruto, there's only three days left till the exam, and you don't want to attract any more attention than you already will."

Naruto would have replied if Suzume hadn't chosen that moment to walk into the room. She was carrying a large bundle of clothing, as well as some cosmetics in her arms.

"Oi, neesan, what's with the clothes?" Naruto asked.

She gave him a smile, "Well, I thought that instead of using genjutsu, you could just try wearing a disguise."

Naruto shrugged, "If we can get it over with quickly, I'm up for it."

(Scene Break)

The two of them spent the next few hours trying on different outfits, and finding different ways to hide his tails and ears. Naruto would have agreed to the first outfit, but Suzume had insisted on making him look good.

Sarutobi had to leave for work, but by the time he'd got home, Konohamaru and Suzume seemed a bit excited, more so than they had in the past few days. When he'd asked them what it was that had them so excited, they'd led him into the living room, and sat him down onto an easy chair.

In front of him was a screen, through which he could see an outline.

"May we present for your judgment, the new Uzumaki Naruto!" Konohamaru and Suzume had said in synch, she pulled down the screen. Konohamaru pulled a string to pop the party-ball above them, sending confetti all over the floor.

And there was Naruto. He was wearing a blue bandanna with the Konoha forehead protector on it. His hair stuck out from underneath the bandanna, and seemed to be styled to completely engulf where his ears would have been. He wore a deep blue trench coat, and a black tee shirt with a white swirl on it. He also wore a red sash, but upon closer inspection, Sarutobi could see that it was his tails wound tightly around his waist. He wore tan, many-pocketed slacks, and regular Konoha sandals. Also, they had apparently given up on hiding Naruto's red eyes, fangs and claws, but the disguise hid what was most important anyway.

On the whole, Naruto looked very peeved about the whole situation. His eyes were much narrower than usual, and one of his eyebrows kept twitching.

After a few minutes of silence, Naruto spoke up, "Can I go now?"

(Scene Break)

Naruto spent the next few days doing something completely new to him. He'd decided to take a walk through town, saying he wanted to test his disguise. He explored every part of town, entering shops just to look around, even though he had enough spending money to buy most anything that caught his eye.

He'd also found what he later decided was his favorite restaurant, the Ichiraku Ramen. Of course, it wasn't so much a restaurant as a bar that served ramen.

Both days he was asked to look after Konohamaru after school by Suzume, which he agreed to. For the most part, he'd stay hidden, making sure that his 'little brother' didn't get into trouble. But, being Konohamaru, it was impossible.

It was when he was playing 'Ninja' with his two friends, Moegi and Udon. He hadn't looked where he was going and bumped into a ninja from Suna.

The ninja picked him up his blue scarf and glared at him. "Hey you little punk, that was my knee you'd bumped into. Now apologize before I break your neck."

Naruto chose that moment to leap down from the tree he'd been hiding in. He landed in front of the sand-nin, as well as his female teammate, who looked as though she wanted to say something before Naruto had appeared.

"Put him down." Naruto's voice was calm, and unwavering.

The two sand-nins looked him over, taking note of the Leaf forehead-protector. They still didn't say anything.

"I said put him down. You're guests here in Konoha, so act like them." Naruto voice became louder, and had a colder undertone to it.

Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, who landed on his butt. He quickly got up and hid behind Naruto.

Naruto was about to turn around and leave, when another voice stopped him. He turned around to see a red-haired boy, seemingly scolding his two teammates. He and Naruto caught each other's eyes, and stared.

It lasted for a few seconds before Naruto did take Konohamaru and his friends to leave.

_'Who was that guy?'_ was the thought on everyone's minds.

(Scene Break)

Naruto set out to the academy the day of the test. He walked into the hall, where a large number of genins were crowding around a door, but two older geni- wait, make that chuunins were blocking the way. Why everyone was trying to get into a broom closet, he wasn't quite sure.

He decided to hang back for a while, and watch to see what kinds of people would see through the illusion. He saw several people try to beg, sneak, and bribe their ways past the chuunins, but every time they were pushed back, and had a few insults thrown at them for good measure.

He took note of some of the teams who seemingly left, dejected, but instead would leap up to the third floor from outside. After a while, a slightly older team came, consisting of a Hyuuga, a boy with a bowl cut and a girl with Hair buns. Well, the Hyuuga wasn't doing anything, but his teammates were causing a scene.

But Naruto wasn't fooled. He saw the scrolls that the girl was carrying, and recognized them as summoning scrolls. He couldn't tell what they summoned exactly though.

Even though the bandanna muffled his hearing a bit, he could still hear the heavy weights underneath his (what were they, leg warmers?). Considering that he could move quite normally in those weights, Naruto knew that he had to be able to move faster than that.

Naruto got bored of watching them and decided to leave. He walked past the crowd when one of the Chuunin yelled at him, "Oi, where you goin?"

Naruto didn't stop walking, "Bathroom." He replied, and left.

He hadn't left long when he heard lots of chatter, as well as what sounded like a couple of kicks. He hid himself behind a pillar, and used a very weak genjutsu to conceal himself. It was at this time that three genin walked out of the door he used just before.

He looked them over. One was a girl, who wore a red dress, and had pink hair. Her forehead protector was used to tie her hair up, and she had green eyes. She kept stealing glances at one of the other boys.

The boy in question, was undoubtedly the last Uchiha. If the pure black eyes weren't enough to prove it, his resemblance to Itachi was enough to prove they were related.

The last was a tall boy, but one who didn't look very prepared for anything. At least the girl's kunai pouch was where she could reach it, but this kid's pouch wasn't anywhere in sight. He seemed too nervous to react to any kind of threat. At least he tied his forehead-protector in the right spot.

When they were about half way to the stairs, the door burst open behind them. It was the bowl cut boy again. However, after looking at his face for the first time, Naruto made a mental note to stop calling him bowl cut boy, and start calling him fuzzy brows instead.

"Hey you! You're Uchiha Sasuke right?" Fuzzy Brows jumped down from the landing, and fell into a battle stance.

'_That's a pretty advanced style, he must be a taijutsu specialist.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"I'm Rock Lee." Screw that name, he'd be Fuzzy Brows until Naruto got bored with it.

They talked some more, which left Naruto rather bored. Fuzzy Brows tried to blow kisses to Pinky, but she seemed so disgusted that she actually went out of her way to _dodge_ them. Naruto would have laughed at the scene if it wouldn't have blown his cover.

Fuzzy Brows challenged Sasuke to a fight, which the Uchiha accepted. Naruto watched with interest as Fuzzy Brows' speed completely dwarfed that of Sasuke. He'd thought about stepping in when it looked like Fuzzy would use the Lotus, but he held back when he saw the kunai hit his bandages.

After watching what seemed to be the most eccentric person that Naruto had ever seen boast about being Kakashi's, Team 7's jounin instructor, 'eternal rival' Naruto made his presence known. He walked out from behind the pillar, and stopped facing the five.

"That was pathetic." He said softly, but everyone turned to face him anyway. He looked at Sasuke and Fuzzy, "Both of you, you shouldn't be showing off before the exam even starts. What if I'd been from an enemy village, I would already know what to look out for when fighting you two."

Sasuke glared, Pinky and the other boy seemed slightly frightened by his presence. Fuzzy looked at his sensei questioningly, but for the first time since he appeared with them.

Sasuke spoke first. "Who are you?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him, "When you want someone's name, introduce yourself first. Those were your words right?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, now who are you?"

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, "Uzumaki Naruto." He left a moment later.

Gai's widened with disbelief. Fuzzy Brows looked confused, "Do you know him Gai-Sensei?"

Gai had a stern look on his face. "I have to go check on something Lee. Go to the exam." Then he disappeared with the same poof that all jounins seemed to use when they wanted to leave quickly.

Slightly confused, Lee did as his sensei instructed. Team 7 followed slowly.

(Scene Break)

Sasuke, Sakura and Shinta (the new boy) walked into the testing area. They were greeted by the glares of every other genin in the room, but Sasuke simply shrugged them off.

Before he took two steps, Sasuke was greeted by a cry of, "Sasuke-kun!" before Ino suddenly latched tightly onto his arm. This earned a shriek of, "Ino-Pig!" from Sakura, to which Ino replied with, "Forehead-Girl!" It wasn't long before they got into a shouting match.

Sasuke slipped away from the two girls, but was spotted by Kiba and his group, which then brought over the rest of Ino's group. Before he knew it, everyone of the Rookie-9 was talking loudly over the silence of the room.

It was at this time that a silver haired, older genin approached them. "You guys should really be quiet you know, you're making everyone nervous." He adjusted his glasses as the Rookie-9 took notice of the glares. Shinta and Hinata seemed to cringe slightly under the glares.

"Don't act so confident, it unnerves those of us who have taken the test before." They turned their attention back to the silver haired ninja. "I'm Kabuto by the way."

Sakura looked questioningly at him, "So you've failed this test before?"

Kabuto nodded, "Yes, this will be my fourth year of trying."

"So this will be your fourth time then?"

He shook his head, "No, the test comes twice a year, so this will be my seventh try."

Some of them couldn't believe that he'd failed six times already.

"Why don't I help you out?" He pulled a deck of cards out from one of his pockets. "These are my nin-info cards. I have information on every genin taking this exam. Who would you like to know more about?"

Sasuke took a step forward, "Rock Lee."

Kabuto pushed some chakra into his cards. One that was somewhere in the middle spun a bit, and moved to side so that Kabuto could grab it. He looked over the card, which held the boys portrait, the portraits of his teammates, his sensei, his stats, and his mission history.

Sasuke looked over the card, apparently satisfied. "I need another too. Uzumaki Naruto."

Kabuto's hand stopped while he was replacing Lee's card in the deck. He looked at Sasuke again, eyes slightly wider. "Could you repeat that?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Kabuto looked taken aback, "This has to be a mistake."

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, there was apparently more to this Naruto kid then Sasuke had originally thought. "What's the matter?"

Kabuto looked up at them, debating as to whether or not he should tell them. He decided he had nothing to lose by explaining it. "Uzumaki Naruto has been dead for twelve years." This earned some shocked looks from Team-7. "He was born, and died the day of the Kyuubi attack."

Shikamaru was puzzled, "How would you know this? If he's been dead since the day he was born, his information wouldn't really be worth it for you to look up would it?"

Kabuto smiled, "I found out when I was looking through hospital files on the past Hokages. Apparently, the Yondaime had a son, who was born the day of the attack."

Shinta spoke up, "But the Yondaime was never married, and I studied up on him back at the academy."

"That's right, he wasn't married. He was too busy to prepare for the wedding, and the date kept having to be pushed back because of his duties. It was kept secret from the public because he didn't want people to try and use his pregnant girlfriend, or child against him.

"The day of the attack, his fiancée died during child birth, because the hospital was understaffed at the time. The Yondaime took his son with him when he defeated the Kyuubi, I'm not sure why though. When he defeated the Kyuubi, it took one last swipe at him before dying, and killed him and his son."

As the story set in, the ten of them didn't notice the sound-nin who started charging them.

(Scene Break)

"Gai, are you sure you heard him right?"

Gai narrowed his eyes, "Yes Kakashi, I heard him perfectly."

Kakashi's single visible eye closed. "It can't be…"

"I know it's ridiculous, but that's classified information, and no genin should have that kind of information."

Kakashi kept his eyes closed. _'Could it be a spy? But why would he use such a conspicuous name? Maybe it was some kid trying to throw Sasuke off his trail by giving him a fake name. But that would just make Sasuke want to find him more. Could it have just been a prank?'_

"Kakashi, we should go and ask Hokage-sama right away."

"Right."

(Scene Break)

The first exam was over, but it had been a close call for Team-7. Sasuke had actually had to use the Sharingan to keep Shinta from giving up. Even though he had looked over everyone who was in the test area, he still couldn't find that guy who claimed to be Naruto.

Ibiki had finished his post-test speech, and seemed to be glancing at the window, as if expecting something. But to his surprise, the door that led to the waiting room opened wide, revealing the Hokage, with Naruto by his side, scanning the room.

All of the leaf-nins bowed their heads, and whispered, "Hokage-Sama."

Ibiki looked at Naruto, with questioning eyes, "What's this, some kid who missed the test? I don't give retakes. And where's Anko? She should have burst through the window when I finished my speech."

Naruto shot him a glare, but kept silent. Sarutobi just chuckled, "Ibiki, I would like to introduce you to the new examiner of the second test, Uzumaki Naruto. I believe that his reputation as the Fox-Hunter precedes him."

(Scene Break)

AN: HAH! Didn't see that one comin' didja? Didja?

Ah hah… sorry. I just got excited about this scene when everybody was reviewing, asking about how he would enter the exam. Well, here's your answer I guess.

Remember:

Read, Review, Repeat.


	3. Battle in the Forest of Death

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 3

AN: Woo, man, getting reviews is… exhilarating. I really don't know how else to describe it, it gets me excited to see a new review in my inbox. It would explain how I managed to write Chapter 2 in one day. But I also had a sick day on my side, as well as the fact that it was a short chapter.

On the subject of Kabuto: I have plans for him, oh boy do I have plans. Cackles evilly

On the subject of Shinta: Originally I was going to use him only as a placeholder for Naruto, but that just seemed contrived. After that, I wanted to make him seem really pathetic so that he wouldn't be missed if I decided to kill him off, but a scene that went along with that idea had Naruto come across as a real prick, which sucked too. Now I'm kind of at an impasse, but I will give him a slightly better role than originally planned.

On the subject of Japanese vs. English: This only pertains to jutsu's but, If I know the Japanese name, that's what I'll use. If I don't, or if I just made it up, it will be in English.

On the subject of Naruto's Rank: He is still a hunter-nin, and he will remain at that status for the rest of the story. But just because his primary duty is to hunt missing-nin doesn't mean that he can't go on other missions.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"_The _Fox-Hunter?"

"Do you actually expect us to believe this crap?"

Shouts from various ninja, both genin and chuunin, as well as the most shocked look on Ibiki's face that Sarutobi had seen in a while. Naruto looked quite nonplussed about the welcome he was receiving, but kept silent.

Ibiki seemed regain his composure, "Everyone settle down!" His voice carried well over the din. Everybody who'd been shouting immediately went silent. "Go back to your teams, but keep quiet. Hokage-sama may I speak with you?"

Sarutobi kept a smile on his face, "Certainly." He turned to Naruto, "Could you please wait a moment, I think I need to sort some things out."

Naruto bowed his head, "Of course Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi chuckled lightly, he was being a lot more polite than usual, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. He made his way over to Ibiki. Normally when he would enter a room, the Hokage was the center of attention, but now, all eyes were on Naruto.

Teams quickly got back together, each avidly discussing the new examiner. Some were in awe, others were in disbelief.

Kiba approached Kabuto, Akamaru growling on top of his head. Kiba resisted the urge to grab the older nin by the collar. "What's going on here? I thought you said that this guy was dead."

The rest of the Rookie-9 approached Kabuto, eager to try and figure out just what was going on. Kabuto couldn't take his eyes off of Naruto, "It can't be…"

Chouji, who for once wasn't eating, tried to get Kabuto's attention. "Oi, Kabuto-sempai, is that guy really Uzumaki Naruto? Is he really the Fox-Hunter?"

Kabuto tore his gaze away from the new arrival, and shook his head. "I'm not sure. I've read the medical records on Naruto, and they contradict what I'm seeing now."

That earned a few confused looks, "What do mean?"

He ran his hand through his hair, "All of the records I've read said that Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime, had blonde hair and blue eyes, like his father."

"But…" Shinta began, "Hokage-sama wouldn't lie about something like this would he?"

Shikamaru stared at Naruto, his face more intense than usual. "Unless Sandaime has an inner prankster, I don't see why he would."

Ino piped up, "But wouldn't someone have said something? I you have to take a test to become a hunter-nin right? So wouldn't someone have said something about him being so young?"

Kiba spoke up again, "All the rumors I've heard said things like, 'He's a veteran of the Kyuubi attack' or 'He's a missing-nin himself, and takes jobs to keep other villages off his back.' This doesn't exactly fit the description, ya know?"

"Rumors are just rumors." Kabuto said, "And the only test that hunter-nin have to pass is the Hokage's personal test. Basically if Hokage-sama gives him the okay, he's a officially a hunter-nin."

Shinta looked up, "This reminds me of something that Kakashi-sensei once told us. He said, 'There are people out there who are younger than you, but stronger than me.' Do you think he knew about this?"

Sakura cocked her head in his direction, "About what? Naruto's age or that he's the second examiner?"

Shinta shrugged, "Both I guess."

Sakura closed her eyes in thought. "It's possible he knew, since he only tells us things on a need to know basis only." Her eyes shot open. "Wait a minute! When Naruto first introduced himself to us, Lee's sensei was still there right?"

Shinta's eyes widened. "Yeah, and after he'd said his name, he- Gai or whatever, got all serious and left in a hurry. You think that maybe he didn't know?"

Kabuto nodded in understanding, "That would explain Morino-san's reaction."

Sakura turned to her most quiet teammate, "What do you think Sasu-" But Sasuke was not beside them anymore.

(Scene Break)

"Hokage-sama what is the meaning of this?" Ibiki and the Sandaime were now standing on the roof.

"Why Ibiki, I don't know what you're talking about." Sarutobi pulled his pipe out from underneath his robes and lit it.

The interrogator's eyes narrowed. He hated having information withheld from him. "I'm talking about that kid that came with you."

Sarutobi took a drag on his pipe, "What about him?"

"First off, he can't be Uzumaki Naruto, he's dead. He died the day of the Kyuubi attack."

"And do you remember who was the one who presented that information?"

Ibiki's eyes widened, "You're saying that you lied about him being dead?" The Hokage chuckled in response. "Why?"

He took another drag, "I have my reasons."

Ibiki looked incredulous, "What about his hair, and his eyes, they aren't their original colors."

"Naruto's gone through some changes, I like to chalk it up to teenage angst." He chuckled a bit at his own joke.

Ibiki scowled, "What about his status? He's really the Fox-Hunter?"

Sarutobi smiled more broadly, "I was a bit reluctant at first, I'll admit that. A hunter-nin at ten, it's rare but not unheard of. But he insisted, and we all know how it turned out."

"So he's really the second examiner?"

"I offered and he singed on the dotted line, that makes it official."

There was an awkward silence. Then, "We should get back, the genin are probably getting rowdy."

"Yes Hokage-sama"

(Scene Break)

"You're Uzumaki Naruto?" Sasuke asked loudly.

Naruto didn't even look at him, "Yeah."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "People say you've been dead since the day of the Kyuubi attack."

Naruto stood perfectly still. "That'd be the story wouldn't it?"

Kiba joined Sauske's side, "Are you really _the_ Fox-Hunter?"

That earned a smirk from Naruto, "I've got a collection of heads, from the missing-nin that I've killed. You can come see it if you're curious."

Kiba blanched slightly. It was impossible to tell whether or not he was kidding.

Sasuke stepped closer. "Fight me."

At that, Naruto actually moved his head, "What, here? Now?"

"Yeah."

His gaze went up and down a few times, as though sizing him up. Then, "No."

Sasuke's teeth clenched, "What? Why?"

"I'm an examiner, I'm not supposed to take sides with, or against the genin in this exam. That means, we can't fight until after the exam is over."

Sasuke's teeth unclenched slightly. "That's means that you want to fight, but can't."

Naruto snorted, "Of course, I need to know how the Sharingan works if I'm going to kill your brother."

Now everyone in the room was staring at the two of them. "WHAT?"

Naruto smirked again, "Touchy subject."

"Alright, that's enough." Sarutobi put his hands on Naruto's and Sasuke's shoulders. "Naruto, I think it's time to take everyone to where the second test is being held.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, okay." He turned to everyone else in the room. "Proctors, you know the drill. Genins, follow me."

(Scene Break)

"Alright everyone," Naruto called, "this is the Forest of Death. The second exam takes place in here."

There were some general murmurs from the group of genins gathered in front of him. It had been going on like this for the entire trip, people were pointing at him, glaring at him, or just staring disbelievingly. Especially the Uchiha, he was really starting to get on Naruto's last nerve.

"The exam goes like this. Your team gets one scroll, this scroll has either a Heaven or Earth symbol on it. Your objective is to defeat another team who has a scroll of the opposite type, and then take both scrolls to the tower in the middle of the forest. You have a five day time limit before the test is over, if you're not inside the tower by then, you fail. You are also, not to open the scrolls, at any time in the forest. If you do, then you fail.

"This is the most dangerous part of the exam. At least half of you will be eliminated from the running, and some of you will be killed during this test. The proctors and I will not step in during any fights. We're here to make sure you don't try and leave the forest, and to drag your carcasses out of the forest if and when you lose or die."

'_That shut a few of them up.'_ Naruto noticed the nervous looks on some of the genins, and happened to glance over that kid from the sand again. After their first encounter, Naruto had made it a point to look up his file in the registry. Their eyes locked for the second time in two days, neither showing any emotion.

Naruto was the one to break the gaze again, "You're all going to have to sign a waiver to get into the forest. Everyone from your team must sign the waiver, or else your entire team fails. Once you've all turned in your waivers, you will get your first scroll.

He paused. "Any Questions?"

"Yeah," A mist-nin yelled, "you really the Fox-Hunter."

"Yes, any other questions?"

The mist-nin's teammate spoke up. "So why should we believe that a pipsqueak like you is the famous hunter-nin?"

The speaker suddenly found himself on the ground, with a kunai pinning his shirt.

"Any _more_ questions?" Naruto practically snarled. He was surprised at his own anger. Normally quips about his talent didn't get to him, but now he couldn't brutally maim anyone who made fun of him. He'd never needed this level of self-restraint before.

There were no more questions, but someone was suddenly hanging off his back, and a long tongue was holding his kunai in front of him. "You dropped this."

Naruto took the blade, and then spoke calmly, "I didn't drop it, I threw it. Thanks for bringing it back to me all the same though."

The person behind him, who he could now see was a grass-nin retracted his tongue, and had an overly large smile on his face. Naruto wasn't quite sure whether to be pleased, or disgusted by him.

(Scene Break)

"So, what's your take on him?" Sakura asked Shinta.

"The Examiner? He doesn't really seem all that different from the jounins does he?"

Sakura grinned nervously, "Yeah, real cheery. Do you think that all those rumors about the Fox-Hunter are true? I mean, when we all thought he was a grizzled war veteran-"

"Or a mercenary for hire." Shinta added.

"It seemed a lot easier to believe that he could accomplish so many things. But, he barely looks older than us. Do you really think he's able to kill A-class missing-nin?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." Shikamaru walked over, with Chouji munching on another bag of chips behind him. "You saw the Hokage acting all friendly with him right? Who's to say that this guy hasn't received training from the big guy himself?"

"That's true." Sakura said. "Hey, where's Ino?"

"Getting our scroll." Chouji muttered through a mouthful of chips. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Doing the same." Shinta said. He squinted and cocked his head to get a better look around Chouji. "Hey, what's that guy doing?"

The rest of them looked where he was. They saw one of the mist-nins from before charging forward silently with a kunai in hand. It didn't take them long to realize that he was charging Naruto from behind.

Sakura leapt up, "Naruto, look-"

The mist-nin struck, thrusting his blade forward in what would have been a deadly blow, if he hadn't suddenly burst into smoke at the last second.

"Kage Bunshin?" Shikamaru said incredulously.

Before he'd even finished the first word, Naruto's hand burst from the cloud of smoke, grabbing the mist-nin by the wrist, twisting his arm and throwing him over his shoulder. The kunai clattered to the ground at the same time the mist-nin hit the ground; face first, with a sickening thud.

Naruto had a surprisingly calm look about his face, "What was that all about?"

The mist-nin snarled, "Does the name Yagami Ayame mean anything to you?"

"Not really, but I know that your name is Yagami Hitachi so I'm going to guess that you're related."

Hitachi gnashed his teeth together, "That's right, and Ayame was my sister. She was killed by Momochi Zabuza when he tried to assassinate the Mizukage. I had to kill him, I had to avenge her, but you took that away from me!"

Naruto pushed Hitachi's head into the ground, obviously angry with him about what he just said. "So you're the only one who was allowed to kill him? Do realize what a huge favor I did to the world by killing that bastard? Do realize how many more people would have been hurt by him if we had waited for you to get strong enough to actually do the job? What gives you the right to say, 'I don't care if other people suffer so long as I'm the one who kills him'?"

Naruto let go of Hitachi, but continued to glare at him. "You disgust me." He spat. "The only reason I'm not failing you from the exam right now is because I want to be the one who drags you out of the forest and mails you back to where you came from."

Naruto spun on his heel and walked in the opposite direction. Genin were staring at him now, but he paid no attention. He sat down by a tree and waited for the signal for the exam to start.

A couple ninja walked up to him. He recognized them as the Uchiha's teammates, as well as two of the members of team 10. "What do you want?"

Most of them seemed too afraid to speak. Naruto knew what he must look like at the moment; he had seen himself in a fit of anger before. It was after he'd spent three days trying to learn a particularly difficult genjutsu from a scroll he found in the Hokage's personal study. He had fumed for about ten minutes in the forest before he saw himself in a lake's reflection.

His eyes, though always red, were slitted. His canines had grown, and the rest of his teeth took on an unnatural sharpness to them, and his birthmarks, the whisker like lines on his face, had become shaded, as though to create the illusion that they were actual whiskers and casting their own shadows. His fingernails grew to an unnatural length, though they never became any sharper than they were naturally. Of course, that wasn't saying much.

After he'd seen himself like that, he'd quickly transformed into a fox, and simply spent the rest of the day working off his anger. He mostly took it out on rabbits and other small prey.

Later, Sarutobi had found him, looking distinctly worried. Despite looking immensely relieved that he, Naruto, was well, he'd been reluctant to approach. Later, he'd admitted that he could sense the remnants of a powerful killing intent in the area, and that his first thoughts were that someone had discovered Naruto's existence and tried to kill him.

Naruto was brought back to the present when Shikamaru spoke. "When did you switch with your clone?"

Naruto calmed down a bit, "Right before he attacked."

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "Hn, so you used a combination of the Kage Bunshin and Kawarimi jutsus, then hid your self in the resulting smoke of both techniques and attacked from there, to catch him off guard."

Naruto was impressed with the deduction, but didn't show it. "Nice analysis, you get brownie points. Anything else?"

Shikamaru put his hands back into his pockets, "No, not from me anyway. I'm not sure if these guys have anything they want to ask you though." And with that, the lazy genius turned and walked back towards his shouting teammate.

(Scene Break)

Each team was at their respective starting gates, with a scroll, and waiting for their gate to open. Naruto stood by the tree, staring intently at his watch. The chuunin proctor next to him had his hand right above the button to open the gates.

3…

The chuunin tensed

2…

Naruto raised his hand

1…

Naruto's hand dropped, and so did the chuunin's. The gates flew open.

(Scene Break)

Sasuke stood up, "So, everyone got the passcode?"

Sakura and Shinta both nodded. They stood up, but paused as they heard something, coming closer.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the shoulder and jumped back, "SHINTA!"

"Right!" Shinta launched into rapid-fire hand seals, and then planted both hands on the ground. "**Earth Wall no Jutsu!**"

A wall of rock shot up in front of them all just as a veritable hurricane reached them. Shinta grimaced as he pushed more chakra into the ground. Only after three minutes of the same wind did it finally let up. Shinta's wall crumbled, and left him gasping for air. Sakura ran up to him, trying to see if there was anything she could do.

A low chuckled caught Sasuke's attention, but he couldn't pinpoint its location.

"Pity." All three of them turned to see the grass-nin who had retrieved Naruto's kunai emerge from the bushes. "I was hoping to blow at least one of you away with that blast, but it seems that plan needs to be thrown out the window.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It was you who was spying on us. You tried to blow one of us away with that wind so that you could assume one of our forms and get close to us."

"Ku ku ku ku." The same chuckle, "Very astute Sasuke-kun. I would expect no less from you. My protégé will need to be strong of both the mind and the body."

Suddenly a killing intent like no other they'd felt before surged through Team-7.

Naruto stumbled over the branch he'd tried to land on, barely latching onto its side with his chakra. The team he'd been watching hadn't seemed to notice the killer intent, but then again, not many people would be able to at this range.

He quickly spun around and headed in the direction of the intent. It didn't take him long to see the grass-nin from before, as well as Team-7. The grass-nin's neck was extended, like some kind of demented giraffe, and his teeth were latched onto Sasuke's neck.

Naruto acted quickly, he leapt down from the branch he'd been standing on, drew a kunai, and slashed the attacker at the base of his neck. The grass-nin quickly turned into brown goo.

"RUN!" He shouted at the two still conscious members of Team-7. "Take Uchiha and find someplace safe! I'll come find you later!"

"Right." They chorused, both grabbed Sasuke by an arm and leapt away as fast as they could. Naruto reached out with his senses, going into a trance like state, sniffing for any smell, and listening for any sound.

He snapped out of his trance when he felt someone latch onto his shoulders. "Tut tut Naruto-kun. You're an examiner, you should know better than to give unfair aid to any one team."

Naruto remained calm, refusing to give into his fear as he realized who was holding him. "You reek of snakes, and only one person has the snake contract."

The grip on his shoulders tightened. "Ku ku ku. Naruto-kun, you are very astute, perhaps I should give you a little bite too?"

Naruto smirked, "Just try it snake-freak."

The hunter-nin disappeared in a cloud of smoke as Orochimaru's fangs sank into his neck, but the Snake Sannin just let his grin grow wider. "Kage-Bunshin."

Naruto struck again, three of him each coming from a different direction. The first slashed with a kunai, but Orochimaru easily ducked under the attack, and then grabbed the leg of the clone that tried a spinning-leaf-kick, and threw him into the first. Both exploded in a fiery blaze, which Orochimaru simply blocked by holding the third clone in front of him to take the brunt of the blast.

Naruto's hands shot up from the ground, trying to grab Orochimaru's ankles, but the sound-nin stomped his foot through the ground, cracking Naruto in the head, hard.

Naruto lay stunned, underground until he realized that a long line of snakes was constricting him, which was coming from Orochimaru's sleeves. As Naruto tried to free his arms and legs from the bindings, the snakes would bite painfully into his wrists and ankles.

Orochimaru pulled him closer, so that he could slit his throat with a kunai. Just when they were close enough, one of Naruto's tails shot out from underneath his jacket, the end tightly wrapped around a kunai. It shot toward the Snake-Sannin's face like a scorpion's tail, and he had to bend over backwards to avoid it. But Naruto wasn't done, as he used his other tail to slice the snakes that were holding him in half.

Once his feet hit the ground, Naruto jumped backward, his hands falling into fast seals, and his tails obscured from view. Orochimaru, who'd been trying to use his snakes to support himself, had fallen on his back.

Orochimaru could only get up in time to see Naruto slam his palm into the ground and shout. "**Doton: DoRyuu Endan no Jutsu!**"

A large stone dragon head emerged from the ground, and began firing earthen missles at the Sannin. He jumped to dodge the assault, but quickly found the fault in that when he spotted what Naruto's tails had been doing. They were in a vague imitation of two human hands, now held in a Tiger-Seal. Naruto looked up to face his opponent, and breathed deeply as his chest puffed out.

"**Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!**"

A huge stream of flame erupted from Naruto's mouth as he said the words. The blast hit Orochimaru dead on, but the attack only seemed to melt off his grass-nin disguise. His real facial features were mixed in with the melted remainders of his mask. He looked furious and incredulous at the same time.

'_Who is this kid? That combo was one of Sarutobi-sensei's favorites, does that mean that he taught this kid?'_

Deciding that Naruto just wasn't worth it, Orochimaru disappeared before Naruto could chase him. He was considerably less pleased than he should have been after successful execution of his plan.

End of Chapter 3

Thanks to all those of you who reviewed, and I hope you don't mind my fight scenes too much.

Remember,

Read, Review, Repeat.


	4. The Way to the Tower

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 4

AN: Once again, thanks for all the reviews, it's truly invigorating.

Here's my little rant on computers.

They suck. Especially old ones.

Let me paint a picture for you. March 19, my computer contracts a virus, which I spend the rest of the day trying to fix. They next day, I try to take my computer into a shop to get it fixed, but it's Sunday, and the store is closed. So I take it in Monday, and they can't even look at the thing until Friday.

Friday rolls around and the shop calls me, and tells me that my computer had 40 viruses that my Norton Anti-virus scanner wasn't picking up. My hard-drive has to be wiped, and I am left computer-less for another weekend. Monday comes again and I get my computer back, but now my computer is not recognizing my monitor, so now I'm trying to figure this out while trying to write the story.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Sakura and Shinta had moved quickly to get Sasuke's unconscious form as far away from the fight as they could. It wasn't long before they found a small cave that would be easy to defend, and they settled into it quickly.

The fact that Sasuke had been bitten on the neck had been a shock, but not any more so than the strange event in which images of their own gruesome deaths had come pouring into their heads.

They were lucky to have been found by Naruto, if he hadn't come when he did…

Sakura tried not to think about what might have happened.

After pulling out the kunai that Sasuke had stuck in his leg, which she'd assumed was an attempt to pull himself out of his stupor; she gave him a quick examination while Shinta set up traps outside. She took a look at his neck where the man had bitten him.

There was something strange there. It looked like a bruise, but it seemed to be in the shape of a strange seal. Or at least it would, but it was only half finished, as though someone had been painting it and just quit half-way through. Though she was worried for her teammate, and crush, it didn't seem to be doing anything to him at the moment, so she let it be.

Shinta returned to cave about an hour later, seemingly exhausted. It was no wonder he was tired, when he'd detailed the log traps he'd set up, as well as the less laborious shuriken traps.

The two of them sat in relative silence, just waiting for their examiner to arrive and tell them what to do. Either that or wait for Sasuke to wake up and get on with the exam.

(Scene Break)

It was about six hours before something caught their attention. A squirrel had been making a lot of noise in the bushes before it came rushing towards them. Shinta gave a sigh of relief, but Sakura threw a shuriken in front of the creature, effectively scaring it off.

Shinta was surprised at first, but then figured that she didn't want to waste one of their traps on the animal. It wasn't until he looked at the squirrel again that he noticed the Explosion Note on its back.

He started to get up, but Sakura put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, and she motioned for him to sit back down.

(Scene Break)

Naruto leapt from rooftop to rooftop, moving as fast as he could to get to the Hokage's office. He took the route that he always did, whenever he needed to report to Sarutobi after a mission, but now he didn't have time to keep himself hidden.

He had searched for Orochimaru for a long time after he'd escaped, but as far as he could tell, the snake sannin had left the Forest of Death after their confrontation.

He leapt through the same window that Sarutobi always left open, and landed just inside of the window. He looked up to see several jounin and chuunin gathered in the room, Kakashi was sitting in the chair at the front of the room, and was seemingly snapped from his thoughts as Naruto landed.

Sarutobi looked over his shoulder seemingly non-chalantly. "Ah, Naruto. We were just talking about you. Shouldn't you be in the Forest of Death right now?"

Naruto bowed, "Forgive me Hokage-sama, but there is an emergency situation. Someone has infiltrated the exams."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. "Who?"

"Orochimaru." The eyes of every ninja in the room widened, but no one made a sound. "When I saw him, he was attacking Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke in particular."

"What happened?"

"I sensed Orochimaru's killer intent and went to investigate. He was biting Sasuke in the neck, I confronted him and he left. I was unable to track him."

"What about Team 7?" Kakashi was standing now, staring at Naruto intently.

Naruto's gaze met the Copy-nin's, "I sent them away as soon as I could. Sasuke was unconscious, but I told his teammates to hide him somewhere until I came to find them."

Anko stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, I think that we should cancel the exams and hunt Orochimaru down. This may be the only chance we get."

Naruto spoke before anyone else could, "No."

Anko, as well as several other ninjas in the room glared at Naruto. "We weren't asking you whelp!" A chuunin shouted angrily.

Naruto's gaze drifted calmly onto the speaker. "If we cancel the exams, not only will we anger the other villages, but we will show them weakness. If we do this, then we'd only be giving villages like the Cloud and the Stone a reason to attack. Our relations with them especially have been shaky since the wars."

Sarutobi grinned, "I couldn't have said it better myself." His face turned serious again, "But Naruto, what do you intend to do about Team 7?"

"I believe that Orochimaru may have given Sasuke a cursed seal. I request the sealing scroll used to seal away Anko-sempai's seal, so that I may repeat the process on the Uchiha. After I have confirmed his well-being, I will return with a more thorough report."

"Very well, move quickly." Sarutobi turned to address the room, "The rest of you will have to search Konoha for any signs of Orochimaru, but do it discreetly. Also, we're going to have to keep up appearances, so all Jounin senseis will be expected to appear at the third exam should your team pass. Dismissed."

There was a very loud POP as every ninja in the room disappeared in their own cloud of smoke.

(Scene Break)

Naruto caught up to Team 7 just as their encounter with the sound team had ended. Lee, Sakura and Shinta stood triumphantly over the sound team, Kin and Zaku were unconscious, but Dosu was standing, hunched as he always but much more unsteady than he usually was.

Naruto crouched on a branch, high above the clearing, trying to take in the entire situation. Sakura was sporting a few bruises and cuts, but otherwise seemed fine. Shinta seemed to be suffering from minor chakra exhaustion, and Lee would have looked just like he always did if it hadn't been for the layer of dust that covered him.

Dosu made a comment about their strength, and offered his team's scroll. He then left the clearing, with his teammates under his arms. As he did, Naruto took a good whiff of the air around him. Aside from the three standing in the middle of the clearing, he could smell the Hyuuga boy, his female teammate, as well as Shikamaru and his team, who were seemingly watching from the bushes.

Naruto leapt down from his branch and landed softly next to Shinta. The three looked up at him, getting ready for another fight before they realized it was simply the examiner. "Good job you two, you managed to hold this position. And thank you Lee, for coming to their aid."

Lee looked confused. "Um, why are trying to defend Team 7, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked around, "Before I explain, I would like you to call your teammates out of hiding, and while were at it, Nara-san and his team should show themselves as well. I hate being spied on you know."

Shikamaru revealed himself instantly, followed closely by Chouji and Ino. Lee's teammates hesitated at first, but after having Lee call them, as well as Naruto stare at them for a few minutes, they relented and jumped down.

"Good, I want you all to stay here while I check on Uchiha-san's condition."

Naruto turned and walked towards the cave, but was stopped when Lee grabbed him by the shoulder. "How do we know you're not just an imposter trying to get an easy shot at Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto glared at him, "Fine, come with if you're that paranoid."

Shinta, Sakura and Ino decided to follow as well. Naruto entered the cave and walked calmly over to Sasuke's prone form. He could hear Ino whispering questions to Sakura about what happened to him. He rolled the Uchiha on his side and inspected the base of his neck. To his surprise, the curse seal seemed to be faded. He guessed that his interference with Orochimaru may have interrupted the process, and it might have been interrupted.

Naruto inspected Sasuke's pulse and breathing, but for all intents and purposes, he only seemed to be sleeping. So Naruto did he did when he had to wake up Konohamaru after a particularly long sleep. He grabbed by the collar, lifted him up and backhanded him across the cheek.

The four genins had looks that varied from shocked to angry. Shinta spoke up, "What do you think-"

"He's awake now." Naruto dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground. Sasuke began to rub his cheek where he'd been struck, and slowly worked his way into a sitting position. Naruto grabbed him by the shoulder and lifted him to his feet. "Everyone, back outside."

Sasuke stumbled a bit as Naruto's hand left his shoulder, but he regained himself quickly when Ino and Sakura tried to help him walk. Both girls glared at each other too much to notice the looks they were getting from the boys in the cave.

Naruto waited until all of the genins present had lined themselves up to listen to him. Sasuke was giving him the dirtiest look that he'd seen for a while, but the Hyuuga boy was giving him a run for his money.

"The reason that I'm even talking to all of you right now is because we have a state of emergency in Konoha. The Chuunin Exams have been infiltrated by a very high level missing-nin, Orochimaru, and we believe that his objective is the Sharingan. That's why he attacked Team 7.

"The reason that I've kept you all here is both to have you keep an eye out for him, but also to protect Sasuke." If possible, the Uchiha's gaze intensified. "Orochimaru gave Sasuke what is known as a curse seal. This can give someone more power, but at the cost of their freedom. Whoever wears a curse seal becomes a slave to the person who gave it to them.

"There is a way to seal it, but the technique will leave Sasuke unconscious for a day at the least. That's why I want you all to stay with Team 7. We can't allow Orochimaru to get Sasuke, or the Sharingan, and he may be sending people to try and get Sasuke to fully activate his seal, which is what I believe was why the sound-nins attacked you."

"So you want us to protect Sasuke and get him to the tower? Why don't you just take him?" Lee inquired.

Naruto calmly continued. "One, no, defend him until he regains consciousness again and can move on his own. And two, because we can't allow any other villages to think that there's anything wrong. If we show signs of weakness then the Stone or Cloud may attack us, for example.

"Also, since we need to keep up appearances, I need to keep officiating the second exam, and making sure that Orochimaru doesn't make his way into the Forest of Death again. It also isn't odd for genins of the same village to be teaming up during this stage of the exam, so this won't seem as suspicious as if I had stayed to protect Sasuke. Is this all understood?"

Everyone nodded. "Good, now Sasuke, take off your shirt."

Sakura and Ino actually drooled at the idea, while Ten-Ten giggled like a schoolgirl. Sasuke looked angry again, "Why?"

"The seal needs to be painted onto your body. The rest of you, give me room."

When the preparations were made, Naruto was standing in the middle of a large circle, with Sasuke kneeling before him, facing away. Characters were painted on Sasuke and the ground, going in several different directions, but all originating from the curse seal. "This is gonna hurt. A lot."

(Scene Break)

As Naruto laid Sasuke on the ground, underneath a large tree that he had deemed to be a nice new hiding spot, he left the group with instructions for several different emergency situations. The way he described everything left the impression that he was having them baby-sit Sasuke rather than protect him. He also said that he'd try and get someone to keep an eye on them, but that it wasn't likely.

The next day had gone by relatively quickly. Ino and Sakura had spent most of their time looking after Sasuke, and making any little change in his condition seem like they were being attacked again. Shinta, meanwhile, was simply happy for some company, and had been engaging in conversations with Lee on pretty much any subject he could come up with.

Shikamaru had set up a few elaborate traps, and then resigned himself to cloud watching, while Chouji basically did what his teammates told him to, and when he wasn't following orders, he was cloud watching with his friend. Ten-Ten had been trying to take her duties seriously, but it was rather hard to do when not even Neji wanted to actually do anything. It wasn't that Neji was being lazy, but he didn't like to take orders from someone younger than him. Hell, he didn't like taking orders at all, but at least Gai had some interest in his development, and he knew the price for disobeying the Main House.

Sasuke had woken up the following day, as Naruto had predicted, at which point Neji decided it was time to leave. Ino refused to leave any sooner than possible, and would have followed them all the way to the tower if Shikamaru hadn't pointed out that both teams needed a second scroll, and relatively little time to do it in.

Team 7 continued on, trying not to get into any fights. That wasn't hard though, since they never seemed to come close to any other team. The only person who they had found was Kabuto. He'd offered to help them to the tower and get a second scroll, so long as they didn't attack him or steal his own scrolls. Sasuke was initially suspicious, but kept his mouth shut since Shinta and Sakura seemed excited at the idea.

While Kabuto had explained what kinds of strategies were common at this point in the exam, the four of them fell into a very familiar illusion.

(Scene Break)

They had been walking for about and hour, but no matter how much time went by, they never seemed to get any close to the tower. Although they were inwardly complaining, Sakura and Shinta kept quiet. Sasuke was the unofficial leader of the group, and they wouldn't stop until he said so.

"Why don't we take a rest here for a moment?"

Or until Kabuto said so apparently. Sasuke huffed indignantly but stopped anyway, leaning against a tree. Sakura sat down at the base of a tree for a moment to catch her breath. Kabuto handed Shinta a flask of water, who stared at it for a moment, but to a swig anyway, then handed it to Sakura. She offered it to Sasuke, but he just huffed again, so she handed it back to Kabuto.

After a few more minutes, the four got back on the trail and began walking again. They were only a few yards before Kabuto placed a hand on Shinta's shoulder, "Now."

Shinta made a one handed seal, and an explosion was set off at the tree which he had once been sitting under. Three figured fell from the branches on the ground, charred and smoking. Sakura looked surprised, but Sasuke just walked over to the fallen ninjas and searched their pockets for a relatively unharmed scroll.

"Is it just me," Shinta began, "or do those things have protective barriers on them?" He turned to Kabuto, "By the way, how did you know I could use C-1?"

Kabuto chuckled, "Have you forgotten?" He lifted up his deck of nin-info cards.

Sakura snapped her fingers, "Oh, so Kabuto handed you the C-1 when he gave you the flask right?" Then she looked at her raven-haired teammate, "And Sasuke wasn't surprised because he had seen the ninjas with his Sharingan when we stopped."

Kabuto nodded at her smiling, Shinta laughed out loud, "Pretty good plan huh?"

(Scene Break)

The group arrived at the tower with no other incidents. Kabuto's team was waiting for him, although didn't look very happy to have been left waiting. They said their goodbyes and went though the double doors in front of them.

Kabuto, however, was not as calm as his outward appearance led many to believe. His mind was racing with questions. He hadn't had any contact with Orochimaru, or anyone beyond the three leaf genins for three days. Many things had changed that they had not anticipated. Orochimaru had counted on Anko being the proctor for the second exam, because she could easily be defeated with her curse seal, if the need arisen. But now this Naruto, who was supposed to be dead, had become the second proctor.

Not only that, but if any of the rumors were true, the Foxhunter would be harder to take down than Orochimaru's former apprentice. Not only that, but the way that he and the Hokage had treated each other when Naruto had first appeared. It had been… chummy. Like they were old friends, or teacher and pupil.

Thinking about the rumors again made Kabuto shiver. At first the rumors had been small, pretty much the same as every other mysterious hunter-nin. But they rapidly began to get bigger and bigger. Ninjas who had gone unchecked for months, sometimes even years, were taken off of Konoha's missing-nin list, many within days of each other. The rank of the missing-nin he killed began to shoot up on his repertoire.

He remembered the first time he'd decided to look up on these rumors. He'd bought the newest version of the "Bingo Book", as well as an edition from a year ago, and was shocked to find that 50 missing-nin, all C and B rank, had disappeared in that time. Konoha had never been known for its hunter-nin, so a spike like this had at least given some proof that a new, powerful ninja had joined the ranks of Konoha's hunter nin.

But it turned out that he was only twelve years old. And the son of whom many considered to be their greatest leader. The whole reminded Kabuto of one other prodigy.

Uchiha Itachi.

Kabuto didn't have much time to contemplate this information before he had to take up his duties again. The third exam would start soon, and even though he was supposed to quit, he had to be there. He only had minutes, and no one to talk to. Sure, there were his 'teammates', but they were just there to give him credibility. To allow him into the exam again.

They were standing in their rows now, and the Hokage was giving his speech, the same kind of speech that every Kage would give at the chuunin exams. He knew Orochimaru was here somewhere, but he didn't bother to look. His mind was still racing with questions. Should he quit? Had the plan changed? Should he risk trying to get closer to this Naruto? He just couldn't be sure.

Hayate came to stand in front of the genin, introduced himself as the referee, and began to explain the rules. He came to that point when he gave them the option to bow out, just like every other proctor. Kabuto raised his hand on habit alone. Everyone turned to him expectantly.

His mind raced. He didn't know what to do. The plan now was big, very big. Bigger than it ever had been before. But pieces of their plan were falling apart, and Naruto was too big of an unknown. But he was there, standing next the Hokage, and didn't seem to have any intention of leaving.

"If we give up now, are our teammates disqualified?"

For once Kabuto was at a loss for what to do. He knew he'd have a month to find more information on Naruto, but what about the here and now? What if Naruto did something strange, something that no one else would be able to pick up? It's this kind of insight that he can't afford to miss.

"No, from here on its every man for himself. Cough You wont hold your teammates back if you quit here."

Kabuto lowered his hand, "No, never mind. I'll stay."

It was a combination of curiosity and ambition that made him do it, but either way, the decision was made. Kabuto would continue into the exams. Its not like it changed much anyway.

(Scene Break)

AN: Another chapter completed. Once again, sorry for the delay. As of writing this note, my computer is mostly fixed, and spring break has just begun, so hopefully updates will be more frequent.

Read, Review, Repeat.


	5. Prelims

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 5

AN: Yeah, my last chapter wasn't one of my better ones. I skipped over a few fight scenes, mostly because writing fight scenes are hard, and I knew that I would have to write quite a few for this chapter, the prelims. I can't guarantee detailed descriptions of every fight, but I will say that Kabuto's, and Shinta's fights will be in detail.

I'm going to change a few fights up a bit, but most will remain the same, like the Ino-Sakura fight. These fights, will not be changed, and mostly likely be skipped over. Fights that are changed up will mostly just be summed up in a paragraph.

Also, I do know the names of the Sound three (well, I'm pretty sure these are their names, but I can't remember the order of their names. As in, what's their family name and their personal name, so I'm just going by what I found at a website.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

The genins split into two distinct groups, those from Konoha, the overwhelming majority, and those from other villages. Each group took place upon one of the to metal platforms above the fighting arena. Jounins rejoined their students, and most were looking over their genins for injuries, as a sort of last minute attempt to get them through the exams.

Naruto noticed that Kakashi was paying a lot of attention to Sasuke, as well as his neck. _'What's the matter with that guy?'_ He thought, _'Doesn't he trust me to get a job done right?'_

The screen flickered through the names of the 21 participants. Every eye was on the screen, to see who would be first to fight.

Yakushi Kabuto vs. Dosu Kinuta

Dosu smirked, but no one noticed it underneath his bandages. Kabuto also smirked as he walked down the steps, ignoring his teammates' glares.

The two faced off against each other in the middle of the arena. Above them, the genin watched, but weren't really interested. They had already seen Kabuto get beaten by Dosu before the first exam, and most expected it to turn out the same way.

Hayate raised his hand, coughed, and then choked out, "Begin." before poofing away.

Dosu leapt back a few feet, and pulled back his sleeve to reveal the device underneath it. Kabuto simply stood in place and adjusted his glasses. Dosu took a step to begin his charge, but hesitated, caught off guard by his opponent's calm demeanor.

Naruto's ears twitched underneath his bandanna. He could practically feel the confidence radiating off the silver-haired teen. "Kabuto will win." He said simply.

The Sandaime smiled at his student. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Kabuto has already suffered through Dosu's attack once. He knows what to expect, and judging by the aura of confidence he seems to have, he also knows how to counter it."

Indeed he did. Only moments after Naruto finished his explanation, Dosu charged forward, swiping at Kabuto, who avoided the swipe. But as Kabuto dodged, he made a swipe of his own, barely missing the shoulder of his opponent.

However, Dosu's arm fell limp. His eyes widened in horror when he realized that he could not move it, no matter how much effort he put into it. It felt numb, like it was frostbitten, or asleep.

Kabuto coughed up some blood, but immediately brought his hand to his chest. His hand was glowing, a telltale sign of a healing jutsu at work. He smirked and wiped away the blood from his cheek. "I had to take a hit, but you're finished now."

Kabuto rushed Dosu this time, swiping three more times, and each time another of Dosu's limbs went numb. Kabuto stood triumphantly in front of his opponent as the Sound-nin crumpled to floor. "How?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses again. "A Chakra Scalpel. It's mostly used for field surgeries, but it can cripple an opponent in a fight. It's capable of cutting ligaments and nerves without breaking the skin."

Hayate declared Kabuto the victor. The Leaf-nin walked back up the stairs to rejoin his team, while medics rushed into the room and carried Dosu off on a stretcher.

(Scene Break)

From Kabuto's fight on, the battles had ranged from spectacular, to lack-luster. There was the fight between Temari and Ten-Ten, which was interesting enough. Naruto was impressed with both girls, but he admitted that Ten-Ten stood no chance against the Sand girl. It wasn't because she was any more skilled than her opponent, but because the defense her fan and control of winds offered so easily countered Ten-Ten's weapons that won the battle.

Sakura's fight had been one of the sub-par ones. The fight seemed more a battle of wills than a contest of any real skill. Although the Mind-Body Switch technique was impressive, Ino only had an amateur's grasp of the technique, and would most likely be killed in a real combat situation, if she did not have anyone to protect her when she was incapacitated. In the end, the battle came out to be a tie, which worked out well since now the third exam would have an even number of participants, so long as there was not another tie.

Sasuke had an interesting battle. He'd been pitted against the Hyuuga girl, who seemed to be terrified of him. Hell, she seemed terrified of everyone. Although she never attacked, she defended herself valiantly, and put up a hell of a fight until the Uchiha had finished her with his "new" Lion Combo. Half of it was an exact copy of Lee's Lotus technique, but the feat had been impressive nonetheless.

Hinata was carried out on a stretcher, but was allowed to return soon after because her wounds were not serious. Apparently, Sasuke had pulled his last punches, to avoid inflicting permanent injury on her. Naruto was pretty sure that it wasn't out of pity or some kind of hidden feelings for the girl, but the simple fact that nobody wanted to have the Hyuugas on their bad side.

Shikamaru had fought against Kiba. At first, Kiba seemed to have the upper hand. He would toss a smoke bomb, and then attack the lazy ninja relentlessly with his Piercing Fang technique. It was only when Kiba had stopped to gloat that Shikamaru's shadow shot out from the smoke, and captured him, along with Akamaru, in the Shadow Imitation Technique. After going through a brief explanation of the technique, he went through a ruse of throwing shuriken, then jumping up to dodge them, only to have Kiba smash his head into the platform above, and slipping into unconsciousness. Overall, Naruto was very amused by the fight.

Next was Neji against Kin. The Sound girl's bell trap was relatively imaginative, but with the Byakugan's ability to see chakra, or in this case chakra strings, Neji severed her connection to the bells before she had the chance to ring them, and then hit her with several strikes of the Gentle Fist style before she went down.

Kankurou fought against Misumi, one of Kabuto's teammates. The older Leaf-nin had the strange ability to dislocate his joints, but still move them, and coil them around his opponents like a snake. Kankurou had countered by using the replacement technique with puppet, which attacked and defeated Misumi before the bespectacled man could react. Kankurou reclaimed his puppet, Karasu, and re-wrapped in its cloth bindings before returning to his perch above the arena.

After that was the fight between Yoroi and Shino. The older ninja had an advanced bloodline that allowed him to sap the chakra from his opponent's body. However, the fatal flaw in this ability was that Shino was an Aburame. Since Aburame's use their Kikai Bugs to eat away at their opponents, and that they had developed the Bug Clone technique made for a deadly combination against Yoroi, who tried to grab Shino and drain his chakra. When he did, the bugs that made up the clone swarmed over him and drained him of all energy. He fell into unconsciousness soon after.

The second to last battle was Zaku vs. Chouji. Naruto had found this fight rather boring, because both combatants were one trick ponies. When Chouji tried to roll Zaku over with his Meat Tank ability, Zaku had kept him at bay with his artificial gales. It finally turned into a battle of stamina, and after ten rather long minutes Zaku passed out from chakra exhaustion.

There were only three combatants left, Gaara, Shinta, and Lee. Lee, on the one hand, looked very excited, sure that his name would come up. Then there was Shinta, and even from where Naruto was standing, he was visibly shaking. Gaara had the same stoic look on his face, arms folded across his chest, the same way that he had been every time Naruto had seen him.

The screen flickered to life again; only three names ran across the board now. Everyone watched intently to see who the final two combatants would be.

Shinta vs. Gaara of the Sand

Naruto briefly wondered why Shinta's last name did not appear on the board, but was immediately distracted by the flare of youki that emanated from Gaara. His face didn't betray him as the source, but the traces of the demonic chakra was unmistakable to Naruto. The son of the Kazekage simply turned on his heel and walked down to the arena.

Shinta, on the other hand, was as white as a sheet. His grip on the railing was so tight that it seemed the steel would collapse under the pressure. After some attempted encouragement from Sakura, and a threat from Sasuke that his fingers would be broken if he didn't go down, Shinta finally let go and made his own way down the stairs.

Lee and Gai were hugging each other, crying that Lee had missed his chance to show off to everybody. Naruto decided to try and shut them out as best as possible.

Gaara and Shinta faced off as their peers before them had, in the middle of the arena. Shinta got into a shaky battle stance, literally quivering in fear. Gaara remained perfectly motionless, the only sign that he even acknowledged Shinta was his higher than average chakra level.

Cough "Begin."

Hayate poofed away again. Shinta leapt backward and threw a few shuriken. To his credit, he could at least still throw straight despite his shaky hands. The shrunken would have hit their mark if Gaara's sand had not shot from his gourd and blocked them.

Shinta wasn't done, as he threw four more shuriken, each one caught by the sand again. As Shinta put his hands into a seal, the sand wrapped around a particular shuriken to form a sort of floating sand bubble. The bubble expanded at the same time that a dull thud was heard, letting Shinta know that his C1 had gone off.

He swore and drew three more wads of the plastic explosive. After a short set of seals, the wads shaped themselves into kunai. Shinta through each, and once again the sand came up to block the attack. However, instead of having to detonate the explosives manually, the Kunai shaped weapons exploded on impact.

The explosion never reached Gaara, because the sand stretched into a long wall to block the explosions once again. However, the dust kicked up by three simultaneous explosions was enough for Shinta to his way behind Gaara. In his hand was a slightly different colored C1. He tried to palm Gaara in the back with the tool, but was once again blocked by the sand.

The new C1 charge went off in Shinta's hand. Rather than a fiery explosion like the other detonations, this one simply produced a loud sound, and a huge force, which knocked Shinta backward, and Gaara forward. Surprised, the demon vessel stumbled forward a few steps. Even as he landed hard on his back, Shinta set off another, this time hidden, plant of C1, which Gaara was now standing over.

The explosion went off, this one bigger than any of the others so far. Shinta smiled stupidly, sure that his trap had worked. However, Gaara emerged from the blast, unharmed, though slightly blackened from the smoke.

"Shit!" Shinta cried, "Is this guy's sand impenetrable?"

Naruto could here Kakashi muttering to himself. "Nice work with the concussion bomb. Too bad it didn't work."

The masked Jounin spoke louder this time, "Oi, Shinta. Now might be a good time to use that scroll."

"Dammit, I'm low enough on chakra as it is…" Shinta complained under his breath.

He pulled an average looking scroll from one of his pockets. He opened it quickly, letting it fly through the air as he bit his thumb to draw blood. He smeared the blood over the inside of the scroll before snapping it closed and going into a set of hand seals once again. He slammed the scroll into the ground.

"**Summoning Technique: Clay Gorilla Golem!**"

There was a poof of smoke, and when it dissipated, a ten-foot monstrosity, with a vague resemblance to a gorilla stood in front of Gaara. Shinta stood on top of one of his creations shoulder, panting slightly. Gaara didn't look very impressed, but he never really showed any emotion during this fight anyway.

The golem's assault began immediately. It rushed forward, intent on making sure that Gaara became paste on the floor. It raised one of its impressively large hands and went for a straight punch. The blow was easily caught and stopped by the sand, but the golem punched again with its other fist. This too was caught, but what was different was that Gaara raised his hand in front of him. As he did, the sand wrapped around the golem's fist.

As the golem pulled and clawed at the sand, trying break free of it, Gaara's hand began to close, and the pressure from the sand increased. When Gaara's hand was half way closed, the golem broke free and staggered backwards. The caught arm was cracked from the pressure that had been administered on it.

Shinta placed both hands on the golem's head, and cracks slowly began to close up, and the golem's hand was whole again.

'_Okay, so going for strong punches will only get me trapped, but maybe if I move my golem fast enough, the sand can't wrap around him.'_

Shinta's golem suddenly launched itself at Gaara, making wild swipes and jabs, circling the boy and never attacking from the same place twice. After two minutes of an endless barrage, the golem stopped mid-punch.

"Huh?" Shinta tapped the head of his trusty clay warrior. "Golem what's the matter? Why'd you stop?"

The answer came soon enough. The golem's entire surface became lined with cracks. Slowly they widened, and began shooting sand like blood from a freshly cut wound.

"Shit! Golem!" Shinta started to panic. He put his hands back onto his golem's head and tried desperately to close the cracks. But no matter how much chakra he used, the cracks simply became wider and wider, until entire sections began to fall apart. By the time the left arm had turned to dust, Shinta abandoned all hope of reviving his creature and leapt as far away from it as possible.

As Naruto watched the scene play out, a smirk unconsciously graced his features. _'Interesting, when Gaara crushed the golem's arm, he injected sand into the body. It worked its way through the golem, and destroyed it from the inside.'_

He found that he couldn't stand up straight and fell flat on his ass, "That's it, I give. That was the last of my chakra."

Hayate coughed, "Winner, Gaara of the Sand."

But Gaara wasn't done. He raised his hand in front of him again. The sand began to drift towards Shinta's position. "Hey, didn't you here me? I give up, the fights over."

Hayate stepped in, trying to disperse the sand with bursts of chakra, but it only wavered slightly in the air, before continuing past the referee.

Naruto gave the Hokage a look. "Should I?"

The Hokage's face was grave, "Do it."

Naruto leapt down off the platform that he was standing on, and right into the midst of the sand. He let loose a strong burst of youki that sent the sand flying in all directions. Gaara looked surprised. People had tried to dispel chakra from his sand before, but it had never worked.

Kankurou, Temari and Baki looked even more shocked. It was pretty common knowledge in the Sand that when Gaara wanted to kill somebody, nothing got in his way. Shinta looked as though he might have pissed his pants if the sand had gotten any closer. Other spectators let out breaths that they hadn't realized they'd been holding.

Naruto glanced at Hayate, who nodded briefly, with an incredulous look on his face. Gaara tried to retrieve his sand, but another flare of Naruto's youki kept it down. Gaara glared at the hunter, then made his way back up to his teammates.

(Scene Break)

Each of the finalists was standing in a line. The Hokage gave them the explanation of how the third exam would play out, and that the tournament was only so that they could see their skills in combat, and whether they passed or failed had nothing to do with how far they got in the tournament.

Each genin drew lots to determine the matches:

Yakushi Kabuto vs. Hyuuga Neji

Kankurou of the Sand vs. Aburame Shino

Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari of the Sand

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara of the Sand

Akimichi Chouji vs. Rock Lee

"You have one month to train. That is all."

The genin and their senseis filed out of the room. The Hokage turned to Naruto, who was still standing next to him. "Why don't we take a walk?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

(Scene Break)

Well, I got through the prelims in one chapter. Go me… or not. You can go ahead and bitch about not writing the fight scenes if you want, but just know, writing fight scenes are hard. I really didn't feel like going through every single one with a fine tooth comb. I also didn't want to risk being repetitive, because I've found that I tend to use a lot of the same words when I write fight scenes.

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	6. Enter, Jiraiya

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 6

AN: This chapter puts the focus back on Naruto, now that the exams are mostly over.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Naruto and the Hokage walked calmly down the bustling street. Neither had said anything to each other since they left the tower, and Naruto was starting to get nervous. He liked things to be direct, which was a bad quality for a ninja, especially a hunter-nin, but he really didn't care.

"You seem to have taken an interest in Gaara."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What is it about him that fascinates you?"

Naruto thought for a while, he had never kept secrets from his sensei before, why start now? "Since the first time I saw him, I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach. Every night since then I've been having strange dreams…"

"Naruto." Sarutobi put a hand on his pupil's shoulder. "No matter what you say, just know that I will always love you. Okay." He smiled reassuringly.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, as he caught on to what he was implying. "You think I'm gay don't you?"

Sarutobi's smile turned to a nervous grin. "Er… No, of course not." He laughed a bit too loudly to be natural.

Naruto grinned unconsciously. For some reason, he liked making people nervous. "The dreams aren't romantic or anything." His face turned serious again. "They don't even contain humans."

Sarutobi also turned serious. "You're saying they are of, demons?"

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for a few moments. "So what kind of dreams are they?"

"I think that they're the Kyuubi's memories." Sarutobi gave him a concerned look. "I can't really be sure, but I'm the Kyuubi in the dreams, and there are other demons too." Naruto snapped his fingers, "Oh, also, I think that it was before he came into his full power, because I only remember him having six tails in the dreams."

Since Naruto didn't seem overly distressed by these dreams, Sarutobi eased up a bit. "So what happens in these dreams?"

His student shrugged, "Not much really. They're all pretty much the same, but not quite. It's basically Kyuubi running around with another demon causing havoc in the demon world."

"Why don't you go into more depth, it might give us a clue."

Naruto put his hands into his coat pockets, "Well, there's this sand demon named Shukaku, I think he's a Tanuki or something. But anyway, Shukaku and Kyuubi travel together, watching each other's backs, and generally being the pests of the demon world. They seemed to be the equivalent of a couple of grown up pranksters."

"Sand demon…" Sarutobi rubbed his chin in thought. "Do think these dreams have any connection to Gaara."

"Well, I didn't before, but I do now."

"Hm? And why do you say that?" Sarutobi began to fool around with his pipe.

"During his fight, Gaara wasn't using chakra, he was using youki."

The Sandaime nearly dropped his pipe. "You're sure?"

Naruto nodded gravely. "Pretty sure. I couldn't tell until the end of the fight, when Hayate tried to dispel Gaara's sand. Well, since it didn't work, just jumped down and used youki instead. When I thought about it afterwards, it just sort of hit me."

Sarutobi lit his pipe again. He thought about the implications of there being another Naruto, and in the Sand as well. Though they were allies, the Sand and Leaf kept many secrets from each other. But it just seemed odd that there would be another child like Naruto out there, and now he was here at the chuunin exams. If his behavior during the preliminaries was any indication, Gaara had given in more than a little to his demonic instincts.

He was snapped out of his internal monologue by some loud sniffing from Naruto's direction. "Do you smell frogs?"

Sarutobi went by his instantaneous reaction, "Of course I can't, I can't smell a quarter of the things you can."

Naruto chuckled a bit, "Some Hokage you are."

Even though Sarutobi laughed alongside his adoptive grandson, he suddenly was pulled back to what Naruto had said. "Frogs you say?"

Naruto sniffed again. "More like toads actually."

Sarutobi cocked an eyebrow. "Which direction is it coming from?"

Naruto sniffed a few more times, before leaping onto a rooftop, giving a quick, "Follow me."

The two leapt from rooftop to rooftop, and Sarutobi quickly guessed where the scent would lead them.

Sure enough, Naruto stopped in front of the bathhouse. Naruto pinched his nose shut, "Someone must have brought a lot of toads here, because the sent is strong. Way too strong for just one stray toad."

Sarutobi sighed, then started making his way around his fence to the women's side. "Come on Naruto."

Slightly confused, Naruto simply shrugged and followed his sensei. It didn't take them long to find a rather large, white haired man. He was peeping through a hole in the wooden fence, scribbling notes in a small notebook and giggling like a madman.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he watched the man from behind. Sandaime cleared his throat to get his attention, but the lecher apparently didn't hear him. He tried clearing his throat again, louder this time; the pervert was either deaf or flat out ignoring them.

"Jiraiya, aren't you getting a little too old for this?"

"Humph." The man finally turned around, grinning at the both of them. "You're just angry that I didn't invite you to come peep with me."

Naruto's eyes twitched again as he looked up at his sensei's face. Sarutobi coughed again, "Actually Jiraiya, I've got a favor to ask you."

(Scene Break)

"So this is the kid huh?"

The three of them were drinking tea, rather than Jiraiya's recommendation of sake, after a nice long meal in Sarutobi's favorite restaurant.

"Heh," Jiraiya gave Naruto a big grin, "and here I thought that my godson was dead."

Naruto choked on the tea that he had been sipping. "You're my godfather?"

"Yep, you sure are." Jiraiya's grin grew wider. "Now that I know you're alive, you can follow in my footsteps." He reached into his vest and pulled something out, then slammed it onto the table. "Starting with this, your journey into manhood will soon be complete."

Naruto picked up the object, a book, and squinted his eyes in disgust.

"Icha Icha Paradise?"

Sarutobi snatched the book from Naruto's hands. "Jiraiya, he's only twelve years old."

Jiraiya didn't look like he cared, "So? I was peeping in the girls baths when I was ten."

Sarutobi cleared his throat yet again, "Yes, well, I don't really think Naruto's at that stage yet, so why not just give him a few more years okay? And besides, I still haven't told you about that favor."

Jiraiya nodded at his former teacher, "Yeah, I'm listening."

"I want you to train Naruto for a little while."

Jiraiya frowned. "I don't think so. It would cut into my research time."

Naruto glared at the old man in front of him, then at his teacher beside him. "Sarutobi-sensei, I don't really see the point in this. What could I possibly learn from this guy?"

"Well for one thing, he's the only one who knows your father's techniques." Sarutobi refilled his teacup. "But that's not what I wanted him to teach you. Not yet at least. With Orochimaru back, and with an entire ninja village at his disposal, we may be facing a very large confrontation. Orochimaru is capable of summoning the snakes, so I think it would be good if you learned how to summon toads to possibly counter that."

Jiraiya nodded in that sagely way he does, "Your dad would have wanted you to follow in his footsteps. I think that summoning is a good place to start."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, "I still don't think that a guy like this should be teaching me. What kind of person pushes pornos on a twelve year old?"

Jiraiya straightened up in his seat, "Now look here you little brat, I don't write pornos, I write masterpieces."

Naruto took a slightly befuddled look on his face, "Wait," He grabbed the book from Sarutobi's hands and looked at the author's name, "YOU wrote this?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms in front of him, with a smug smile. "Yes, I am the genius who has written the best selling Icha Icha series of books."

Naruto went to open his mouth again, but was cut off by a series of men, and some women, who had overheard the conversation and now wanted Jiraiya to sign their copies of Icha Icha Paradise. After much book signing and the twitching of Naruto's eyebrows, the three ninjas were left alone to themselves once again. Naruto was glaring at the perverted hermit, Jiraiya was drooling over the phone numbers that he had somehow gotten from female fans, and Sarutobi had simply started sipping his tea again.

After Jiraiya had wiped the drool from his mouth and put his newly acquired numbers away, he leaned forward to speak. "Alright kid, I'm in a good mood, so I think that I'll allow you to train under me for a while." Before Naruto could react, the toad-hermit grabbed him by his coat collar and threw him over his shoulder.

Jiraiya left with a squirming Naruto slung over his shoulder. Sarutobi enjoyed the last of his tea until realization hit him. "Jiraiya, you left without paying your portion of the bill."

(Scene Break)

Jiraiya opened up the scroll for the toad-summoning contract. "You should know the drill by now. You've studied enough haven't you?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, bite my thumb and sign my name in blood right?"

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head, "Well, anywhere on your body works really, just that the thumb is probably the easiest."

"Whatever." Naruto pierced his thumb with one of his sharp canines, and singed next to, what he assumed to be the Fourth Hokage's name. "Now I can summon toads right?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Yeah, but that's the only contract you'll ever be able to sign unless you manage to get your contract voided by the toad boss. He's pretty easy to piss off so try not to get on his bad side okay?"

Naruto nodded, "I'll just have to ask him when he comes out." He bit his thumb again, and ran through the hand seals Jiraiya had told him. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

Black markings appeared and began to spread along the ground like a spider web or broken glass. After a large bang, and poof of smoke, Naruto suddenly felt something wriggling underneath his palm. He lifted his hand up to reveal a tiny orange toad with a blue vest.

"Hey, what's the big idea you prick! You trying to crush my rib cage or something?"

Naruto's eye twitched. Jiraiya tried unsuccessfully to hide a lopsided grin, "Guess this is harder than you thought, huh kiddo? You're gonna have to practice if you want to summon something more useful in battle."

The tiny toads eyes widened, "Battle?" He pointed and accusatory finger at Naruto, "You better practice. I don't care how many times you summon me, but I wind up hurt because of you, I'll… I'll… I'll get dad to annul your contract!"

Jiraiya laughed as Naruto grumbled and de-summoned Gamakichi. The hunter looked over his shoulder, "Any advice, Super-Pervert?"

Jiraiya gave a smug smirk, "Yeah, sucking up will get you no where with me. Now get back to practicing."

Naruto glared at the hermit and went back to work. He bit his thumb again. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

There was another cloud of smoke, and when it cleared, it revealed Naruto standing in front of a purple toad half his size with a green sack on his back. The toad looked bewildered, "Where am I? I was just stealing some panties from the girls bathhouse, and now I'm here?"

Naruto's eye seemed to be developing a nasty habit of twitching. "Panties? Toad… panties?"

The toad grinned up at him. "Only the best!"

Naruto de-summoned the purple panty thief to the sound of Jiraiya's raucous laughter. _'Man, why am I getting nothing but lame summons?'_

(Scene Break)

It was the end of Naruto's first week with Jiraiya. Over the course of the week, Naruto had slowly improved his summoning skills until he had reached what Jiraiya had said was the second-in-command of the toads. He had seemed nice enough, and Naruto had felt that he had enough chakra left to summon the boss, but Jiraiya had stopped him, saying that he would want his full strength to deal with the toad boss.

Naruto found Jiraiya early that morning, carrying a notebook and a pair of binoculars. When he had suggested going to summon the toad boss, Jiraiya got a nervous look on his face and suggested that they eat something first.

After a hearty breakfast, Jiraiya reluctantly gave in and headed off with Naruto to the large field that they had been practicing summoning in.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

Naruto suddenly found himself on top of a very, very large toad, and suddenly found Jiraiya very far away from the toad.

"OY JIRAIYA!" The toad's voice thundered across the plains. "YOU MIND TELLING ME WHAT'S UP WITH THIS BRAT THAT YOU ALLOWED TO SIGN THE SUMMONING CONTRACT WITHOUT MY CONSENT?"

Jiraiya stiffened, "Ah, well, he is the Yondaime's son Gamabunta."

Gamabunta looked at him quizzically. Naruto leapt off the toad's head and landed next to Jiraiya. "HM? OH. NOW I RECOGNIZE YOU, FOX-BOY. BOTH SIDES OF YOU I MAY ADD."

Naruto didn't react to what he'd said, "I apologize for that scar Gamabunta-sama."

"WAH HA HA HA HA! GAMABUNTA-_SAMA_! NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT. IT'S MORE RESPECT THAN I GET FROM THIS PERVERT ANYWAY."

Naruto sniggered as the large toad chewed out his sensei-for-the-week. "Gamabunta-sama, if you would have me, I wish to be able to call upon your protection if you will have me."

"HA! SO YOU WANT TO BE MY SUBORDINATE, IS THAT IT?"

"Well no not exac-Gah!" Naruto began talking through his teeth as Jiraiya's sandal began digging into his foot. "I mean, yes Gamabunta-Sama, that's exactly what I mean."

The toad-boss took a long drag on his pipe and exhaled the smoke into the two ninja's faces. Although their eyes watered horribly, the two managed to hold their breath and not cough or blink. "NORMALLY I HAVE SUBORDINATES DRINK SAKE WITH ME BEFORE YOUR STATUS BECOMES OFFICIAL."

"Pardon me sir, but I am underage."

"HMM…" Gamabunta replace his pipe in his mouth, and made various 'thinking' noises. "I SUPPOSE I COULD MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOX-BOY, SINCE YOU WERE SO POLITE."

Naruto and Jiraiya bowed, "Thank you Gamabunta-sama."

The large toad disappeared in an even larger cloud of smoke.

(Scene Break)

Naruto stared at Sarutobi, confused. "Hayate is dead?"

"Mm. We found his body only recently. Now we're left without a referee to the remainder of the chuunin exams."

Naruto sighed somewhat, "And you want me to do it right?"

Sarutobi smiled, "I had asked Genma, but he really doesn't seem to want to do it."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "So then I'm your second choice?"

"Well I didn't expect you to complete your training with the summoning technique so quickly."

Naruto close his eyes, "Alright, I'll do it."

(Scene Break)

A little shorter than usual, but I really needed to get this exposition chapter out of the way. Next chapter will have Naruto interacting with the other genins a little bit.

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	7. Meetings With Genin

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 7

AN: Like I said before, this chapter is mostly about Naruto's interactions with the genins.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Naruto stared down the demon in front of him. This weird bastard was in his territory, and nobody got away with invading his territory, especially not with the stench of humans on them.

A growl escaped his lips. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better get your ass off my land before I rip you to shreds."

The demon turned around, and as Naruto got closer he could see that it was completely made of sand. "And just who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

Naruto laughed, "I don't need to waste my time talking with trash like you." He leapt backward. "You'll be easy pickings squirrel."

"Hey! I'm a tanuki, bitch!"

The genjutsu that he created began to spread for miles. The tanuki looked back and forth, trying to figure out just what had happened. The genjutsu was made to do a number of things. Fool the ears, fool the nose, fool the eyes, and fool everything basically. It was a good technique for figuring out just what sense your opponent relied on most.

Naruto inhaled deeply, and blew out a stream of blue flames. At the same time, he sent a mental command to his illusion to make sure that the sound, sight, smell, and even the heat from his flames came from different directions.

The tanuki inhaled as well. His stomach swelled until he beat it with both fists. A burst of air shot from his mouth with the force of a tornado. The burst of air collided with his flames, and sent both attacks spiraling in different directions, igniting any plant life around them.

Naruto grunted and tried absorbed the youki from the fires around him.

"GUOOOO!" The tanuki let out a fearsome cry, and his own youki was shot in every direction, not only dispelling the fires, but Naruto's illusion as well.

Naruto gave a toothy grin to his opponent, "Not bad, not many can break a kitsune's illusion using just their base youki."

"BWA HA HA HA! Yes, this power is far greater than what I'd imagined. Now all shall know the name SHUKAKU! BOOYAH!"

"BOOYAH!"

Naruto woke up to find Konohamaru in his room, watching cartoons on his TV. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he came to a realization. _'Another of the Kyuubi's memories maybe? So the other demon's name is Shukaku. Maybe I should look into this a bit.'_

(Scene Break)

Naruto walked out of Sarutobi's library with several scrolls in hand, as well as a few in his pockets. He hadn't found anything on Shukaku, but he had found a few scrolls on demon legends, and more than a few technique scrolls that he wanted to at least try out.

He gave his goodbyes to Suzume and walked out the front door. Normally he would go to Sarutobi's private garden to train, but he felt like exploring Konoha once again, maybe trying out some more restaurants.

He wandered for a little while until he came to a barbeque style restaurant. Thinking that it was as good a place as any, he stepped inside. It wasn't very crowded, but it seemed that they were just cleaning up after the lunch rush.

"Yo." Naruto looked down one of the aisles to see a middle-aged ninja sitting in a booth with three genins. Naruto recognized the younger ninjas as Team-10, and he assumed that the older man was their jounin sensei. The jounin was waving at him.

Naruto walked over to them and bowed his head slightly, "Good afternoon."

The jounin returned the gesture. "My students say that you're Uzumaki Naruto?" He nodded, "I'm Sarutobi Asuma. Why don't you sit down and eat with us?"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, but sat down anyway, next to Chouji, with Shikamaru against the wall, looking out the window. Ino had the other window seat, with Asuma at the end. Naruto reached for Shikamaru's menu, and when the lazy ninja made no move to stop him, he plucked it from the table and began to scan it.

While eating lunch, Asuma kept pestering him with questions. Innocent enough, like what his missions had been like. He'd assumed this was casual talk between ninjas, so he'd replied honestly, but made sure to keep certain details omitted.

"Momochi Zabuza?" Asuma said as he took a sip of his drink. "He's a pretty strong guy from what I heard."

"Yeah," Naruto said quietly. "I got pretty lucky all things considered."

Asuma cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"A lot of the intel was sketchy at best. We didn't know that Zabuza had a few followers with him. The demon brothers could be pretty dangerous if you don't know what to expect, and there was this kid with him."

"An apprentice?"

Naruto shrugged, "Closest thing to it I guess. The kid had a blood limit that I'd never heard of, so I wound up wasting a lot of chakra just dealing with him."

"Why don't you describe it, maybe I've heard about it."

"It was called Demonic Ice Mirrors, or something like that. He made a bunch of big slabs of ice that he could enter, and travel between at speeds faster than most could follow. I was barely able to catch glimpses of him."

Asuma scratched the back of his head. "Well, sorry. I thought I could help you, but I'm just as clueless on that one as you are."

Naruto stood up, "I should probably get going. You guys should too, those exams are getting closer you know."

He placed some money on the table as a rough estimate of what he owed and left.

'_Now, where to next?'_

(Scene Break)

Naruto wandered through the streets, although now that word of him had spread around, he found that he couldn't exactly keep low key like he had before. He briefly wondered if changing his wardrobe would keep people from recognizing him so easily. Maybe it was the fact that, from a distance, he looked like a miniature Ibiki that gave him away.

He eventually decided to travel the forest paths again, if for no other reason than to get away from the whispers for a short while. He hadn't traveled long before he caught an unusual scent. Curious, he headed towards it. As he got closer, he realized that it was clay, the same clay that Shinta had used in his fight against Gaara.

Naruto jumped up into the trees and approached stealthily. He hadn't traveled long before he spotted the young brunette throwing kunai at clay birds that he'd generated. Naruto couldn't tell if he was trying to improve his accuracy, control over his birds, or both.

Upon closer inspection, Naruto could see explosive notes attached to the birds, and that was just before one of them dove towards Shinta.

'_Are they autonomous?'_ Naruto thought vaguely.

Shinta spun around on his heel as the bird just barely missed him. The bird careened to the side and crashed into a tree, setting off a concussion blast. This ritualistic training continued for another five minutes before all but one clay bird was destroyed.

The last was in the clutches of Naruto, who watched in morbid fascination, as the bird tried to work it's way free of his grasp. The fact that Shinta had not yet become aware of his presence confirmed that the birds were indeed autonomous.

Soon he became bored of his secrecy and decided to just ask the source. He leapt down from the tree in front of Shinta. The Genin almost fell over in surprise, but regained his balance without looking too much like an idiot. He put on his best threatening face, "What do you want?"

Naruto calmly held up the bird by its tail, "How do these things work? I've been looking at for three minutes and I don't even have a clue."

Shinta's gaze loosened somewhat, but then hardened again, "It's a Blood-Limit, and that's all you need to know."

Although only having had experience with Blood-Limits when he was fighting them, Naruto at least knew that their secrets were jealously guarded. "Oh, is that it then?" He let the bird go, which fluttered its way back to Shinta's shoulder.

Shinta inspected the bird, then held out his hand in front of Naruto, "The note?"

Naruto smirked, "This thing?" He pulled the concussion note from a pocket in his jacket. "You don't really need it do you?"

Shinta's gaze remained fixed, "Just give it back to me."

"How about this…" Naruto reached into a separate pocket, "I keep the note," he produced a technique scroll, "and I give you this scroll?"

"What's on the scroll?"

Naruto's smirk grew wider, "That's part of the gamble."

Shinta stood in thought for a while, but his curiosity got the best of him. "Fine."

Naruto tossed him the scroll and took off. He wasn't quite sure how to replicate the note, or even if he could, but he felt that he'd at least put Shinta in his debt, which could prove useful down the road.

(Scene Break)

Naruto continued his trek through town, stopping to look at various shops and their wares. It just so happened, that he came to a bridge when a certain pink haired girl was resting there.

She was leaning on one of the railings, looking down the river. She had a far off look in her eyes. Naruto decided to see what was up with her. He walked up to her, balancing on the railing, "Something wrong?"

She looked up, and shook her head. Now, Naruto had a pretty good bullshit sensor. You had to have one when you were a Hunter-nin, since all too often you would get false leads or bad information. A majority of Missing-nin seemed to think that spreading false rumors about themselves was a good way to stay hidden.

Well it was, which was why Naruto had developed his bullshit sensor. And right now, Sakura was making it go haywire. "It has something to do with your team right?"

Sakura looked him in the eyes with a look of surprise on her face, then turned towards the river again, "Yes."

"You know," Naruto began, "I'll bet Sasuke is training really hard for his match right now."

Sakura muttered an agreement.

"And I know for a fact that Shinta's training hard in the forest right now."

She muttered another agreement.

"So what are you doing at this bridge feeling sorry for yourself?"

Sakura moved to smack him, and for some reason, he let her. He wasn't quite sure why, since the only time he did that was when Konohamaru would throw angry fits. She didn't him though. She lowered her fist and continued to lean against the railing.

"What do you want?" She muttered.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Really, I don't know. There's just something that I can't stand about a sad girl you know?"

She didn't seem to acknowledge that he'd even said anything, so he jumped down from the railing. "Okay, so maybe the direct approach then. You were pathetic in that fight against Yamanaka in the exams." She made a sound close to growling, but he continued on. "You have no special skills, and from what I hear you spend most of your time fawning over boys than training. You've been relying on your teammates, not your own abilities. If you don't want have them protecting you all the time, then take these," He pulled a couple of scrolls from his pocket and placed them on the railing next to her, "and practice them."

She grabbed his hand before he pulled it away. He looked over to her to see her glaring at him. "Don't, call me pathetic, ever, again."

Naruto shot an equally strong glare back at her. "Then don't give me a reason too, ever, again."

Sakura released her death grip on his hand and allowed him to walk away. Once his back was turned he smirked. It was the same trick he would always use on Konohamaru when he seemed sad. Just make them angry and they'll work out all their frustrations. He'd always wondered if it would work on other people, and now he had his guinea pig. All he had to do was check up on her to make sure she was feeling better, or at least keep her angry with him.

(Scene Break)

Naruto continued his wanderings through Konoha. For a while he'd stopped in the forest at one point to go over the scrolls he'd collected that were on demons. He'd studied them for the rest of the day, and tried to figure out exactly what triggered his dreams of Shukaku.

Sometimes, Naruto would dream, except that they wouldn't be dreams, they would be memories of the Kyuubi. They always had something to do with what had been going on in his life recently though. For example, after his own first kill, he would dream about Kyuubi's first kill. Which was why his dreams about the demon Shukaku were so baffling.

He was eating at a ramen stand trying to clear his mind of the dream, when his ear twitched underneath the bandanna. He recognized two voices down the street, they were the teammates of Gaara. He focused on them in order to hear what they were saying.

"-the hell could he be?"

"Quiet, don't you know the meaning of discrete?"

By this time he had placed names to the voices. The first one was Kankurou, and the second one was his teammate Temari. He smirked, then paid his tab. He left the stand before they passed by, and turned the corner into an alley.

When they passed by him, Naruto counted their paces until they had gone far enough away, and set off behind them. This was one of his favorite things to do as a hunter-nin. Stalking. He made his footfalls especially loud, and distinct, so that the prey would know that he was following them. After a while they would turn around and try to spot him, but he'd be gone by the time they even tried it.

From there on he would use clones to move ahead, while he would lag behind and give them directions. Make sure that the clones walked in front of the prey, in plain sight, once, then twice, then a third time. Soon they would realize that there were just too many coincidences, and would realize who had been following them before. He watched from above as they started to quicken their pace, but every corner they turned, there would be a clone for them to spot, but only for a moment.

Then came Naruto's favorite part. By this point, every clone would be watching them by the time they'd found one. Winking, smirking, acknowledging their suspicions. That was when panic set in. They would start looking everywhere and seeing a clone one moment, and having it disappear the next. Now, he'd dispel all his clones, and head towards them himself. He would use the same distinct footfalls that he'd used when he first started following them. They would turn to face him, but this time he wouldn't hide. Instead he simply strode past them, while whispering a message into Temari's ear.

"Roof of the bakery."

Then he would turn a corner and disappear again. They would come to the bakery's roof, they always did.

And so Temari and Kankurou leapt up to the roof. Both looked very agitated, but kept cool faces. They knew that he couldn't touch them, not while they were in broad daylight anyway.

"What do you want?" Temari said.

Naruto gave her a smirk, he could tell that he'd gotten to her, even though she did a remarkable job of keeping a straight face. "I want you to deliver a message to your teammate."

Kankurou stepped forward a bit. He opened his mouth wide, like he was going to shout something, but thought better of it. "What is it?"

"Tell him…" Naruto paused for dramatic effect, "Shukau's presence has not gone unnoticed."

(Scene Break)

AN: Well… sorry for the delay. I could make a bunch of excuses, but then I'd just be lying to you.

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	8. Start of the Tournament

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 8

AN: Now for the Tournament. Once again, I'll pretty much only write the fight scenes that weren't in the Manga/Anime.

On the subject of pairings… again: I don't plan on writing any lovey-dovey, hold hands, kiss-kiss romance. I said before that I had plans for a side fic, but that probably won't come until the time-skip. Those who read the manga should know what I'm talking about, maybe the anime too since I don't know how far along that is.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Naruto stepped up to the balcony alongside the Hokage. He sniffed the air every five seconds or so, trying to get a whiff of something. Sandaime spoke softly, so as not to alert anyone around them, "Can you smell him?"

Naruto took another whiff before speaking, "Yeah, but it's everywhere, and evenly spread too. He wants us to know he's here, but he's being smart about disguising himself this time." He narrowed his eyes, "If he thinks he can toy with us he's got another thing coming."

"Easy Naruto." Sandaime's eyes turned to the entrance opposite of the one they came through. "We have company."

Naruto also faced the entrance, and stood at attention as the Kazekage walked through. He bowed when they came face to face. "Kazekage-sama."

The Kazekage quirked an eyebrow, "I assume that this is the Foxhunter that I've been hearing so much about?"

Sandaime smiled and nodded, "Yes, in the flesh."

Naruto spoke up again. "Sir, about the Uchiha…"

Sarutobi nodded, and the Kazekage looked to them for an explanation. "It seems that Uchiha Sasuke has not arrived yet. Normally this would mean he would be disqualified, but…"

"But many of the regional lords came here specifically to see the last Uchiha, yes?" The Kazekage finished for him.

"Yes, I'm sorry to impose but would you mind if we waited a bit for him to show up?"

The Kazekage shook his head, "Not at all. I've been looking forward to seeing how my Gaara would stand up to the last Uchiha."

Naruto turned to the Hokage, "By your leave sir?"

Sarutobi nodded, and Naruto vanished with a poof.

(Scene Break)

Naruto poofed back in front of the Genin in the center of the arena. He smirked and raised one hand in greeting, "Yo."

The reaction he got was rather mixed. Temari and Kankurou kept shooting him nervous glances. Gaara was giving him the same cold stare that he gave everyone, but it seemed to be focused solely on him. Shikamaru looked mildly surprised, and Chouji had stopped eating his chips when he first saw him, but resumed his munching quickly. Kabuto raised his eyebrows in surprise, but kept a calm face. Fuzzy brows seemed genuinely confused, and Neji was shooting him death glares. If Shino had showed any emotion, it was hidden underneath his jacket.

"Seems that Hayate ran into some trouble recently, so I've been chosen to officiate the rest of the exams." Naruto explained with his same smirk.

Naruto launched into an explanation. "Okay, things are going to go like this: This will follow the same rules as the preliminaries. Don't hold anything back, but when I tell you to stop, you stop got it?" He looked over each of the Genin, but stopped on Gaara in particular. "Because there are ten of you, we can't have a regular tournament, so at least one of you is going to get a free ride to the final round. We chose randomly before the tournament started, and the two who will get the easy route are Aburame Shino and Kankurou of the Sand.

"Also it seems that Uchiha Sasuke has not yet shown up for the exams. Both Kazekage-sama and Hokage-Sama have seen fit to allow him extra time to show up."

Since nobody seemed to have any real problem with this, Naruto saw fit to start the exams.

(Scene Break)

Yakushi Kabuto vs. Hyuuga Neji

Naruto's hand was held up in the air, and then he thrust it down quickly. "Hajime!"

Kabuto and Neji, both having a reasonable amount of distance from each other, did not move, but fell into defensive positions. Each knew that getting close to their opponent could prove deadly, although their best bets for winning were to get close.

After a couple of minutes of deliberation, and also incidentally the time when most the crowd was becoming antsy, Neji activated his Byakugan and charged his opponent. Kabuto stood his ground, and dodged the first few blows coming from the Hyuuga prodigy, not daring to risk exposing himself to a direct attack from the Gentle Fist… yet.

His eyes widened as he saw an opening in his opponents attack. Kabuto reached out channeling chakra into his hand as he did so. Neji smirked inwardly as he grabbed Kabuto by the wrist and moved to press his fingers into his victims arm, closing his tenketsu. Kabuto, at the same time was making another swipe, with a fully formed Chakra Scalpel, at the hand that held him. Neji hit first, but Kabuto ignored the sharp pain and finished his attack anyway.

Both leapt away from each other, nursing their wounded arms. Neji smirked as he applied a healing jutsu to his limp wrist, mending the nerves that had been severed by the scalpel. He became shocked, however, when he saw chakra begin to flow freely through Kabuto's arm once again. Somehow he'd figured out how re-open tenketsu, or at least speed up the process.

Kabuto laughed, "I guess I should have expected you to learn a basic healing jutsu, since that's all it takes to repair damage caused by a Chakra Scalpel. It's in the design after all, do some quick field surgery, and then mend up the nerves you sliced quickly, or ideally have your patient heal them himself."

Neji scowled, the way he talked, it was condescending. He hated being talked down to. If anyone would be doing the patronizing, it would be him. So what it Kabuto was several years his senior? The fool had failed this exam six times, _six!_ Neji was a genius, the best to come from the Branch house in years, he would show the Main house that they had erred in their arrogance, and he wouldn't let some half-rate ninja get in his way.

Kabuto readjusted his glasses and fell into a fighting stance again. Neji deactivated his Byakugan, and then slowly began to circle the older ninja, "How long have you been a ninja for, Kabuto-_sempai_?"

"It would be about eight years now." He answered simply.

"And after all that time, all the time you should've spent training, improving yourself, you still haven't managed to become a Chuunin?"

"No, I haven't… _managed_."

"I'm sure that it bothers you, being surrounded by children. All of whom have managed to achieve what you never could, and those of us who will achieve what you never will."

By this time, Neji had made his way behind Kabuto, so he couldn't see the smirk on the medic-nin's lips. "Assumptions like those have killed better ninja than you. What makes you so confident in your victory?"

"It's simple; destiny has ordained that I will win this fight. You are a loser, a dead last, no better than those middle-aged men who took the coward's way out in the first test. It's all you'll ever be."

"Or perhaps it is that all of you children are jumping head-first into something that you're wholly unprepared for. Perhaps I've been training through each and every exam, growing stronger, until the point where I can handle the duties of a Chuunin easily. Perhaps I have used the duty free years as a Genin to become an even greater ninja than any in this arena."

Neji scowled inwardly. "Those seem highly unlikely from what I've seen of you."

Kabuto wagged a finger as Neji walked in front of him again, "Neji-kun, a ninja must consider all manner of unlikelihoods." Two hands burst up from the ground and grabbed Neji by the ankles. "Such as the unlikelihood that the dead may aid me in this fight."

The Hyuuga quickly activated his Byakugan. Indeed, there was a fresh corpse just below the ground, and several others were placed in various locations around the arena. Neji could see chakra flowing strongly through the one that was grabbing him. He could see Kabuto rushing him, so quickly he brushed his hands against those of the corpse's, disrupting the chakra and causing the hands to go limp.

Kabuto had leapt into the air; palm outstretched before him, and came down on Neji's position a split second after he'd leapt out of the way. Kabuto's palm connected with the corpse's forearm, and instantly it became a pile of much. Neil's eyes widened as he examined the remains, "Its bones are shattered…"

Kabuto stood and smirked, "That's right Neji-kun." He held up his hand, making sure that Neji could see the vast amounts of chakra being channeled into it. "But don't think that was my only ploy."

The ground erupted around him as more corpses emerged from the ground, and then began to follow Kabuto in a rush on the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji braced himself, spread his arms and went into a spin, "**KAITEN!**" A dome of chakra erupted around him and sent every body flying. Kabuto was just about to hit the ground as Neji ran towards his falling form. Neji began to rain blow after blow on the Medic-nin, never even allowing his feet to touch the ground. "Two hands. Four hands. Eight hands. Sixteen hands. Thirty-two hands." Neji spoke as he pummeled Kabuto, "Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke."

Neji smirked in triumph as Kabuto's body hit the ground, landing right next to one of the cadavers. The older ninja didn't even have the strength to twitch. He walked towards the body and began to intensify the Byakugan in order to see the extent of his damage.

'_WHAT? NO!'_ Neji began to get frantic, _'This is just another one of his corpses, then he must be-'_

The corpse that had been laying right next to "Kabuto's" body shot out its hand, going right for Neji's ankles. He noticed too late, and tensed as he prepared to feel his bones shatter.

Instead however, the real Kabuto's fingers wrapped around his leg, and a distinct popping sound could be heard. Neji lost his balance at the same time he realized that Kabuto had dislocated his ankle. He fell forward and tried to hit Kabuto in the back, a last ditch attempt to incapacitate his opponent, but the medic-nin reached back, grabbed his wrist, and dislocated that as well.

Neji hit the ground face first, but Kabuto was not finished yet, he rolled onto his opponent's back and dislocated the shoulder of his still functioning arm.

Naruto reappeared, looking over the two. He raised his hand in the air, "Winner: Yakushi Kabuto!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd.

(Scene Break)

Shikamaru stood with his hands in his pockets in the waiting booth. He sighed as Naruto spoke the next words. "Temari of the Sand vs. Nara Shikamaru!"

The lazy nin simply stood still as Temari leapt eagerly into the arena. Lee stepped up next to the younger boy, "Why aren't you going? It's your turn you know."

"He's not going in there because he knows he won't win." Chouji said through handfuls of potato chips.

"Nonsense!" Lee shouted, "The youthful exuberance of any young ninja would have him leaping at a battle like this. That's what Gai-sensei says."

Shikamaru sighed, "Jeez, why do I have to fight a girl anyway? Maybe I should just forfeit."

Lee had fire in his eyes now, "You can't quit now, you must show these people the power of Konoha's youth!" And with that he pushed the lazy ninja over the railing and into the arena.

Naruto winced as Shikamaru landed on his head. He waited for the leaf-nin to stand himself up, but he was making no effort to move, and seemed as though he'd rather take a nap in that uncomfortable position rather than fight in the exams. Once people started booing and throwing things into the arena, Naruto gave in and started the match, "Hajime!"

He poofed out of the arena and perched himself along the walls, absentmindedly watching the fight as it progressed. After dodging Temari's wind blasts for a while, Shikamaru had made his way to the small collection of trees on the outer edges of the ring. Around when Temari started taunting the lazy boy, and he was apparently formulating a plan, Naruto's thoughts drifted to a conversation he'd had earlier with the Hokage.

(Flashback)

Naruto and Sarutobi were walking towards the arena through the relatively bare streets. True, there was the occasional person who was still making their way towards the tournament, but most of the population was either already there, or not going at all. They were walking alone, as Sarutobi had sent his honor guard of Anbu to the arena already, after assuring them repeatedly that he would be safe with Naruto.

"Hokage-sama?"

"Hn? Yes, what is it Naruto?"

The two were walking on their way to the arena for the end of the Chuunin exams. "I've been wondering, why did you choose now to… how do I say this? Reveal my existence? I mean, why do it at all? My job is much easier when people only believe that I'm a rumor, but now everybody will know who I am, and that I'm twelve years old. I just don't see any advantages to this situation."

The Third chuckled, in that way that he does whenever he knows something that nobody else knows. "It's about a promise I made."

Naruto waited a few seconds, "And?"

"Well, it was a promise I'd made to the Fourth."

Another silence followed, and Naruto narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "And this promise was?"

"Well…" the Sandaime hesitated, "It was more like a last wish than a promise."

Another silence. "_And?_"

The grin grew wider. "And what?"

Naruto was doing his best to keep his annoyance out of his voice. "What was the Fourth's last wish?"

"Oh! Yes of course… Now what was it again?" The Hokage rubbed his chin in thought.

Naruto was positively glaring at his superior, "The senile old man act would work a lot better if I hadn't lived with you for twelve years and also if you hadn't pulled a trick like this before."

Another chuckle came from the older ninja. "Yes well, it's always worth a shot to see you get all flustered."

"I'm not flustered."

"Of course you aren't."

Another silence passed. "The promise?" Naruto asked."

Sarutobi sighed as he recalled his successor's last moments. "Before he left to seal the Kyuubi within you, he told me that he knew what most people's reactions would be. This wasn't the first time a demon had been sealed within a human body, and all known instances of that have produced wild and dangerous people. All too often, other ninja villages had tried to use this process to create powerful ninja for them to control, and all too often these attempts have resulted in failure, usually these experiments end in the massacre of many innocent people.

"He told me that he knew of the hardships that you would surely face growing up. But he told me that his sincerest wish was that you would be revered as a hero. At the time, he'd meant that he wanted you to be viewed as a hero for keeping the Kyuubi sealed, but once I'd realized what had happened to you, I knew that the people would never accept you as a half-demon, and so I concealed the secret of your birth, and took you under my wing to raise and protect you. I made you a hunter-nin not just because you had asked me to, but because I knew that if you were good enough, you would be held in the same regards as even the greatest of all ninja. I wanted to at least uphold the spirit of the Fourth's last wish, if I couldn't uphold the original meaning. I revealed you to the world now, because I believe that you are ready to bear the weight of the pressures that the people of Konoha will surely place on your shoulders, to become greater than you ever have been before."

Naruto was silent for a time, then spoke with softness that Sarutobi never knew he had, "I see… So he really did care about me… More than I thought he did anyway."

"The Fourth loved you very much Naruto. His greatest regret was that he would not be able to see the great man you are sure to become."

Naruto closed his eyes as they walked, "Thank you… Grandfather."

(End Flashback)

The hunter-nin snapped out of his reverie to see Shikamaru put the finishing touches on his plan. Temari had been led into the center of the arena through a series of ploys on time, and a trick used by Nara involving converting his jacket into a parachute in order to extend the reach of his Shadow Bind. Now the sand-nin had placed her fan between herself and Shikamaru as a makeshift barrier, and seemed to start a hand seal when she was caught in the Shadow Bind.

Naruto grinned despite himself. The lazy ninja had used the tunnels created by Kabuto's zombies (Naruto could find no other word to describe them) during his fight with Neji to move the Shadow Bind beyond his normal reach. Naruto realized that everything up to that point had been planned carefully by Shikamaru in order to catch Temari in this last trap.

After spending some time making a fool of his opponent, Shikamaru walked into the open, Temari shakily mimicking his movements. They stood face to face, the lazy-nin seemingly thinking about what to do next, before raising his hand, with Temari mirroring him, before announcing, "That's it, I give up."

The entire stadium seemed to collectively groan at the statement. Naruto poofed in front of the two genin with a slightly incredulous look on his face. "Are you sure?"

Shikamaru nodded, "I can't think of anything else to do here, and I'm almost out of chakra anyways."

Naruto smirked, "Bullshit. Even if you don't the Shadow Neck Break yet, you at least are able to think far enough ahead to pull out a kunai or something before trapping her in the Shadow Bind." The smirk widened, "What I can't figure out though, is if you're really just that lazy, or if you've got the hots for her."

Temari clucked at the statement, before retrieving her fan and heading back to the waiting area to rejoin Kankurou and Gaara. Shikamaru just snorted, and walked back to the stands, mumbling about troublesome women and jounin. Naruto called after him, "I'm a hunter-nin not a jounin."

"Whatever."

(Scene Break)

AN: Yeah, sorry for being so late… again. I am now officially a freshman at Western Washington University, and I've never known something to be so much fun, and suck so hard at the same time. The people are fun, especially my RA, Greg. The classes kinda suck, and the homework sucks really, really hard. For some reason I find it easier to write now than I did during the summer but, yeah whatever.

Read, Review, Repeat.


	9. The Waiting Game

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 9

AN: Not much to say, other than don't expect Chouji's and Lee's fight to drag on too long.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

When Naruto had called down Lee's and Chouji's names, he was rather surprised that Fuzzy Brows hadn't come leaping over the railing in his eagerness to start. In fact, he had decided to enter the arena the regular way, walking side by side with the stout (okay, obese) ninja. They seemed to be in conversation.

"Please!" Lee said, "I can't afford to pay for lunch on my budget."

Chouji was smiling through mouthfuls of chips, "Tough, you lost the bet, so now you have to pay the consequences."

Lee pointed an accusatory finger, "But you knew he was going to forfeit. You knew!"

"Yeah, that's why his bet was the smarter one." Naruto made his presence known finally, a smirk on his lips.

Finally, the two genin were facing each other in the center of the arena. Lee pointed his finger at Chouji again, "Then I will make another wager with you. If I can defeat you in this battle, then you shall cancel my debt of buying you lunch. And if I am defeated, then I shall run fifty laps around the village gates."

"No takers…" Naruto mumbled.

Chouji laughed, causing some of the chips he'd been eating to spray onto the arena floor. "I already know that I won't win."

"Now don't you forfeit too!" Lee cried.

Chouji shook his head. "I've already seen you fight those sound ninjas in the forest of death, so I know what you can do. I also know that you weren't going all out during that fight, and I haven't improved enough in the month that I've been training to beat you."

Naruto smirked, "Sorry Lee, seems like your gonna have to pay for his lunch after all. But I digress, HAJIME!"

The two genin were slightly startled at the sudden start of the fight, but the crowd's roar seemed to snap them out of it. Both fell into fighting stances, Chouji's chips fell to the ground, forgotten for the moment.

Lee charged first, "Leaf Spinning Wind!" The flying roundhouse was aimed at the obese ninja's head, but Chouji managed to block the kick, and push Lee away before he could attack again. The green beast was quick to recover, and aimed a straight punch for the chubby boy's gut.

"Baika no Jutsu!" Lee blinked as his fist was suddenly embedded in a large gob of flesh. He tried pulling it out, but before he could figure out just how much strength was required to wrench himself free, he was smacked in the face by a fist the size of a large bird. This was followed up by a blow from an equally sized fist hitting him in the abdomen. The force of the second punch was enough to dislodge his fist from Chouji's even more oversized than usual stomach, and he was sent sprawling on the ground.

Lee allowed himself to lay on the ground for a while to try and figure out what happened. He didn't really get the chance though, because Chouji had leapt into the air, and once he was right above the green-spandex wearing boy, he called out "Baika no Jutsu!" Lee's eyes snapped wide open as there was suddenly a very heavy looking Chouji right above him, just waiting for gravity to take effect and come down on him.

The Green Beast scrambled to his feet, and used those powerful legs of his to leap out of the way of the now Meat Tank Chouji. Once he had landed, Lee launched himself back at Chouji, who had yet to recover from his attempted body slam. With a powerful kick to the chin, the large boy was launched into the air, reverting back his normal size due to the shock of the blow. Lee jumped up after him, grabbed Chouji by the collar of his shirt and hurled him as hard as he could back towards the earth. With no time to react, Chouji left a very large crater in the arena.

Naruto reappeared in the arena to check on the downed fighter. After a couple seconds of inspection, Naruto raised his hand, "Winner, Rock Lee!"

Lee blushed and looked down at his feet for the cheers he was receiving. Somehow, Gai's voice came of the intercom. "The power of youth triumphs! The Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha claims his first victory!" Sounds of a struggle ensued, and the intercom was immediately shut off. Naruto smirked as he imagined Sarutobi trying to explain that to the Kazekage.

Lee walked over to Naruto, "Hey, is Chouji-kun going to be alright?"

Naruto smiled, while reaching into one of his pockets, "Don't worry too much. You only knocked him out." He produced some smelling salts, pinched his own nose and popped the cap while waving it in front of the large boy's snout.

Chouji woke up coughing, "Oh, what is that smell?"

Naruto put the cap back on the container and chuckled, "Something to wake you up. You lost, but you can go hang out in the genin waiting area for the rest of the tournament if you want."

Chouji nodded, and started heading back to the stairs, but not before reclaiming his discarded bag of chips.

(Scene Break)

"Forfeit?" Naruto asked.

Kankurou nodded, "Yeah, I forfeit. I don't think I can beat this guy."

Naruto was sure that he had caught a sneer underneath Shino's coat and glasses. The Hunter-nin shrugged, "Alright then. Kankurou of the Sand has forfeited, Aburame Shino advances to the finals." Then Naruto poofed into the Kage's booth in order to talk to the two leaders about the still missing Uchiha.

Shikamaru walked over to where Kabuto was standing, "Hey, sempai. You wouldn't happen to have any new information on our examiner would you?" That had gotten the attention of the rest of the genin, especially the sand siblings.

The oldest genin smiled at him, "I thought you'd never ask. What do you want to know?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "How about his relationship to Hokage-sama."

"According to the papers that the Sandaime has released, he legally adopted Naruto the day of the Kyuubi attack. He has also listed himself as Naruto's instructor, which would explain a lot."

"Any word on his abilities?"

Kabuto shook his head. "No, seems like we still only have rumors for that kind of thing. Though I was able to confirm a few rumors."

Lee raised his eyebrows, "Like what?"

"If you've ever heard of the Fox-hunter bringing down a high level missing-nin, chances are that it's true."

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, "Like those Branch House Hyuuga that defected a while back?"

Kabuto nodded, "All him." He pulled a scroll from his pocket, "You can look at this if you want, and these are all the confirmed missing-nin that he's defeated." He handed it to Shikamaru, "By the way he's climbing the ranks, I'd say he's setting his sights pretty high."

"Like what?" Lee asked.

The bespectacled teen closed his eyes. "Uchiha Itachi, and Orochimaru, by the looks of things. He seems to want to go after S-class missing-nin."

Shikamaru looked down at the scroll, "I see…"

(Scene Break)

Naruto sat in the center of the arena, waiting for the final combatant to make his way to the arena. Once again the two Kage had seen fit to Sasuke even more time to arrive. The hanyou snorted, _'What a load of shit. We've been in intermission for fifteen minutes and the brat's still a no-show. If it were up to me, he'd be-'_

A swirl of leaves signified the entrance of the only two Sharingan users left in Konoha. Getting up to his feet, he slowly made his way to the pair. "Well, well. Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence." The sarcasm was practically dripping from his voice.

Kakashi waved a hand, "Yo, we're here." He scratched the back of his head, "Uh… Sasuke's not disqualified because we're late, is he?"

Naruto snorted, "If it were up to me, he'd be disqualified, _and_ he'd get an ass-kicking for that smug look on his face as well. Wipe off that smirk _boy_, you've got no good reason to be happy."

Kakashi sweat dropped, "I'm sensing a 'but' coming on here."

"Hmph, the two Kage have seen fit to grant you extra time to come. So yes, the precious Uchiha is still in the tournament."

"Well that's good." Kakashi turned to his student. "I'm heading up to the stands, just remember what I taught you and you'll do fine."

Kakashi poofed away, leaving Naruto to call Gaara down from the waiting area. Naruto smiled at Sasuke, "I'd rather enjoy getting you ripped apart, but I'm afraid duty forces me to step in if I think that the fights too one sided."

(Scene Break)

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

Reporter Lady banged her head on the bar. "Oh, I've lost him again. Now I'll never get that interview."

A familiar voice rang out. "The usual, Banjo."

The furry bartender nodded and started filling a mug with a variety of liquids, while Reporter Lady perked up. She looked at the newcomer, and suddenly her heart soared. "Mr. Alacron! I've found you again."

The cloaked man spared her a glance. "Indeed you have. Say, where's your camera crew?"

She pointed to the other end of the bar, where the crew had apparently gotten into a fight with some bikers. Alacron chuckled at the man who was being beaten with his own equipment.

Suddenly there was a microphone at his mouth again. "Mr. Alacron, so far you've given us joke stories about various crossovers that you'll probably never do. How about giving us a preview of something that you'll actually consider writing?"

Banjo handed the Author his mug, who placed and hand over the top and began chanting, "Ziggy-Zaggy, Ziggy-Zaggy, Oi Oi Oi! Ziggy-Zaggy, Ziggy-Zaggy, Oi Oi Oi!

Ziggy-Zaggy, Ziggy-Zaggy, Oi Oi Oi!" Then threw his head back and chugged at least half of the beverage. With a contented sigh, he place the drink back on the bar. "Well, now that I've got some alcohol in me, I'm in a much better mood, so why not."

(Scene Break)

"So this is what's it's come to, eh Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

Silently the two best friends charged up their best attacks, Rasengan vs. Chidori. They charged each other.

Suddenly, a rumbling knocked them off balance, and the two fell into the water they'd been standing on. Naruto surfaced first, "What kind of earthquake is this?"

"Naruto, what the hell is that?" Sasuke pointed off into the distance.

A large mass of, everything it seemed like, was charging towards them. Before the two boys could retreat, they were rolled over and caught in the cluster of trees and rocks that made up the strange thing.

"Well hey you two!" The boys turned around to see Kakashi, also apparently caught in the mass, waving at them. "You guys got rolled up as well?" They nodded. "Well, looks like we're gonna be here a while, so why don't we try to work out your guys' problems while were stuck shall we?"

Somewhere in the mass of his Katamari, The Prince thought he heard something along the lines of, "So Troublesome."

(Scene Break)

"WHEEE!" Alacron giggled happily as he spun on his bar stool. Reporter lady could only sweatdrop.

She turned to the bartender, who was cleaning a glass with a dirty rag. "What was in that drink anyway."

Banjo shook his head. "You don't wanna know.

(Scene Break)

AN: Read, Review Repeat.


	10. Demons of the Past

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 10

AN: **IMPORTANT!**

Delays, delays, delays. Because of my policy of not writing fights that haven't changed, I wont write the Sasuke/Gaara fight, so I'll entertain you with another flashback. I repeat, **This chapter is mostly flashback.** There's something deliciously ironic about this chapter, see if you can find it :D

On with the story!

(Flashback)

"You can't do this!"

The Hokage kept his calm demeanor as he responded. "Mr. Tazuna, you have been purposefully vague with you description of what you want in this mission. Any questions we ask for clarification you avoid. I can only assume that you're hiding something, and I refuse to send any of my ninja into a mission without proper Intel if I can help it. But… That is not the main reason why I have refused your mission."

Iruka blinked, he had felt the same way about the mission, but he had no idea that the Hokage might actually know what Tazuna was hiding.

"You see, we have received reports that an A-class missing-nin by the name of Momochi Zabuza has been spotted in the Wave Country recently. Given the current state of affairs in your country, I can only assume he has been hired by this Mr. Gatou, and that you are his current target. If this were true, then it would be an A-rank mission, and even if it weren't, the possibility of encountering him would move it up to a B-rank mission. Unless you can pay the fees for this mission, we have no choice but to refuse."

At every point the elderly ninja made, Tazuna sank just a little more in his chair. "I see that coming here was a mistake. I suppose that I should head home then." He hefted his jug of sake and headed for the door.

The Hokage looked at the Chuunin next to him, "Iruka, would you please escort the bridge builder to the village gates."

The scarred ninja nodded dumbly and opened the door for the old drunkard. When Sarutobi was sure that no one was in earshot, he diverted his attention to the ceiling, "Naruto?"

A small figure landed silently in front of his superior, he was wearing a very finely woven red kimono and a white mask devoid of any features aside from Konoha's symbol and very narrow slits for eye holes. Three fox tails swished back and forth behind him.

"I assume you heard everything?" One of the hunter-nin's ears twitched. "Then you know what I want you to do right?"

"Yeah, I'll take care of it."

And with that he disappeared.

(Scene Break)

They never saw it coming.

A flurry of senbon landing in very specific joints made impossible for either of the Demon Brothers to move their arms or legs. They had been following the bridge builder from Wave country after he'd left Konoha.

As they lay squirming on the ground, Naruto approached slowly, cautiously. He was only five feet away from the first one when a chain-blade ripped through the underbrush, tearing through his red kimono with ease. Naruto's attacker didn't have long to celebrate however, as the fatally wounded hunter-nin vanished in a puff of smoke, and the incapacitated Demon Brothers turned into logs.

Gouzu swore under his breath, he had to find a different hiding spot fast, before the hunter-nin could-

He had barely stopped in time as more senbon sank into the tree trunk in front of him. The elder brother back pedaled while whipping his chain blade in the direction the needles had come from. _'I just have to buy Meizu some more time…'_

As the red-clad hunter-nin leapt at the mist ninja, a cry of "**Water Missile no Jutsu!**" rang through the air. Several dozen projectiles were hurtling at Naruto, but with astounding agility the young half-demon weaved his way through them and quickly made his way to Gouzu.

The older brother barely had time to retract his chain blade before his throat was slit. He had managed to gurgle out his brother's name before he succumbed.

Meizu had wasted no time in charging the hunter-nin, letting out a cry filled with pain and loss. Naruto scoffed inwardly, _'That's his plan? Any ninja who rushes in blindly like that is sure to get himself killed in two seconds.'_

He flipped over Meizu's initial chain blade sweep, and while expertly dodging his frantic attacks, planted his kunai in the missing-nin's stomach, then twisted it a few times for good measure.

The younger brother looked at his wound in shock, coughing up blood into his mask a few times. "Gou… zu…"

'_Meizu and Gouzu, the Demon brothers.' _Naruto thought. _'Chuunin, C-rank missing-nin apart, B-rank together.' _He drew a short blade that was standard equipment for all hunter-nin. It was incredibly sharp, but not meant for actual combat. _'The Mizukage will pay us the amount of one C-rank and one B-rank missing-nin if we bring them in together.'_ He grabbed Meizu's hair, and pulled, exposing his neck, then severed the dead ninja's head. _'I'd better get them stored fast, there's no telling how long this mission will last.'_ He pulled a small scroll from inside his kimono and opened it up, smearing it with some of Meizu's blood.

With a poof a rather large box appeared. Naruto cast a quick freezing jutsu on the head and placed it inside the box, then threw a smoke bomb on the body, covering it in a distinct odor. Within minutes insects, mice, and other scavenging animals were devouring the body. The hunter-nin was in the process of disposing Gouzu's body when he heard someone trying to sneak up on him, poorly. "Don't move bridge-builder. I'll talk to you in a minute."

He noted with satisfaction that the old drunkard seemed to be fidgeting in place, wondering whether or not he should run or not. After Naruto finished with the second body, he approached old man's position, but didn't reveal himself. Rather, he stood on the opposite side of the tree he knew the old man was leaning against, and greeted the bridge builder with an order of "Don't Move."

"I suppose you're wondering who I am." Tazuna grunted an affirmative, "I am a hunter-nin from Konoha. It's my job to find, kill, and dispose of missing-nin, like Momochi Zabuza. I assume that you know what this means for you."

There was a shuffling on the other side of the tree, and Naruto knew that he didn't understand. He sighed, "Let me put it this way; It's my job to kill Zabuza. It's Zabuza's job to kill you. Therefore, if I stick around you, I will find Zabuza, making my job easier."

"I think I get it." Tazuna, said, with nervousness apparent in his voice. "You want to use me as bait to lure out your target."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell." The hunter-nin said nonchalantly. He almost smirked when the bridge builder began shifting around even more. "One more thing, you are not to tell anybody that I'm following you, nor is anyone to know about what you heard. As far as the people of your village are concerned, the Leaf refused your job, got it? Now I've got to go, but I'll be watching, count on it."

Tazuna could hear a loud "Poof" noise, and sighed realizing that the ninja was gone.

(Scene Break)

A week passed by with no further incidents. Naruto continued to watch Tazuna and his family, his daughter practically begged her father to stop building the bridge when she learned that he wasn't able to get ninja escorts. The hunter-nin had suffered through a long discussion about why Tazuna needed to keep working on the bridge. The daughter, Tsunami, eventually gave in, and the bridge builder continued to work.

The days passed slowly, and Naruto got to see what it really meant for a country to be poverty stricken. He watched as terrified men went to Tazuna at the end of every day to quit their work on the bridge. He watched as the old drunkard brought home old withered vegetables that his daughter would try to make a decent meal out of. He saw starving children wasting away on street corners.

It wasn't until the fifth day after they'd arrived that the next attack came

(Scene Break)

"T-Tazuna, I'm so sorry." It had to have been the fifth man that day alone that had quit. "I just can't do this anymore. I-I don't want to die."

Tazuna waved him off, "It's alright, just go home already."

The worker took off, shouting a thank you as he disappeared into the mist. Another worker watched him go. "Man, this fog's really rollin' in fast."

"Yeah…" Tazuna replied, worry on the edge of his voice. "Alright everyone," He called out, "pack up, we're done for the day."

The mist continued to grow thicker as the workers began to leave, and Tazuna began to move our to the center of the bridge, where the fog was at it's thickest. He looked around for a bit, then called out, "If you're going to kill me, then please get it over with. Neither of us have anything to gain by prolonging this." Even though he spoke with conviction, his voice still wavered.

He heard something huge swing through the air, and was prepared to accept his fate when he felt something hit him in the back and knock him to the ground. He rolled over to try and see what had hit him, and saw a short figure back-flip over a gigantic sword as it passed by the spot he'd just been standing in. As the weapon imbedded itself in the pavement, the figure landed softly on the handle, and stood to his full height. Tazuna was surprised that he didn't look much taller than his grandson Inari. Not only that, but the figure also had some kind of strange scarf or cloak or something. The mist continued to grow thicker by the second and soon he couldn't even see the silhouette anymore.

Naruto's ears twitched as he heard his target chuckle. "I've been waiting for you to show yourself. So you're the leaf-nin that the old man hired."

The hanyou scoffed. "Wrong, the old wino couldn't afford to hire ninja. I'm a hunter-nin here for your head." He slammed his foot down on the hilt of Zabuza's sword, launching it into the air, then caught it in both hands. "I would like to thank you for providing me with such a useful tool for the task."

"I wouldn't get too comfortable with that weapon, boy. It won't be yours for very long."

Naruto and Zabuza charged each other, Naruto swung the giant sword and it clashed against a chakra-reinforced kunai. They traded a few blows and then locked their weapons. The mist-nin smirked underneath his bandages. "So you're a demon as well. Then you must know how I feel."

Naruto grunted, despite his skill he had taken more hits than he would have liked, and Zabuza was overpowering him in this deadlock. "How do you figure that?"

"Come on, you of all people must see the weakness in modern ninja society. More and more, we're instilling our genin with useless lessons, history, and an honor code. Ninja have been reduced to cleaning peoples' yards and doing their laundry." He pressed harder, and Naruto's knees began to buckle, "But I'm going to change all that, starting with the Mist. I'm going to return shinobi everywhere to their proper place of respect and power."

"Feh." Naruto scoffed, "Typical missing-nin bullshit. Trying to convince me of your side. To excuse your traitorous actions. It's a typical sign of a guilty conscience." Naruto gave a final push and leapt away, his tails forming hand seals. He tilted his mask up just enough to reveal his mouth. "**Katon: Karyuu Endan!**"

Zabuza widened his eyes in surprise and leapt to side, but grunted as the intense heat from the flames still managed to burn him. He gripped his ankle tightly, wishing he knew some healing jutsu. "Haku! Kill him now!"

Suddenly water began to gather around Naruto, and solidifying into thin slabs of ice. Naruto looked around in confusion. "What the fu-"

Suddenly dozens of senbon found themselves planted in Naruto's skin. The hunter-nin in question grunted in pain and fell to his knee, almost dropping his new sword in the process. _'Dammit, I barely saw that attack. How fast is he movi-'_

Another attacked was launched, and Naruto had to bite his lip to keep from crying out in pain. He formed a quick hand seal, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" And dozens of Naruto clones appeared to try and protect the original.

As Haku attacked again, the clones tried to jump in the way of his Senbon, and each was destroyed, leaving behind a large cloud of smoke. Quickly, Haku retreated back into the ice mirrors. _'Come on. Why won't the smoke clear already? Wait… NO!'_

As soon as the smoke cleared he spotted a hole in the bridge.

"Zabuza! Look out!" Haku's voice rang just soon enough for the missing-nin to step out of the way as Naruto threw the gigantic sword at him, and embedded itself in the pavement. He could hear Naruto curse from through the mist when he learned his attack had missed, but the hunter charged quickly. Zabuza grabbed his weapon and brought it to the ready.

Just as Naruto entered his vision, he swung. But just before the blade cut the young ninja's flesh, it vanished in a puff of smoke. "WHAT!" Zabuza screamed out in pain as Naruto cut diagonally from his hip to his shoulder. _'The sword he threw, it was a shadow clone all along!'_ He'd only finished that thought as Naruto spun and easily severed his head from his body.

"NO! Zabuza!" Naruto spun around as Haku leapt out of his mirror forming hand seals at a frightening pace. Before Naruto could launch an offensive, he shuddered at the sharp temperature drop. Haku had his hands locked in one seal, and called out an attack, "**Demonic Ice Blades!**"

Naruto had only a split-second to try and figure out what the technique was before he felt a sharp pain in his back. He spun around, trying to get a clear view of what was around him, and saw as the thick mist began quickly condensing and freezing into kunai made of ice. He gritted his teeth and began dodging as quickly as he could.

Ice kunai continued to clatter all around him, only to melt and become mist, then be transformed back into kunai to attack again. The endless cycle was beginning to wear at Naruto's nerves, and the attacks were becoming quicker and more accurate. The cuts that littered his body were becoming deeper with each new attack, and he had to focus most of his chakra into self-healing just to stay conscious. _'Dammit, if I can't beat him then I've got to distract him. Just a lull in the action would give me all the opportunity I need.'_ He hefted Zabuza's sword and threw it in the direction where he last saw Haku before the mist became too thick to see.

The shuffling of feet was all he needed to know that his attack had worked, and he brought his fingers into a seal, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" A dozen Naruto clones surrounded the original with kunai in their hands and tails. When the ice kunai began to rain down again, each clone blocked the attacks, and Naruto began to charge toward where he thought Haku landed. _'Dammit, I can smell the wino but I can't smell this kid? He must already know how to hide his scent.'_ As he got closer, he could hear chanting, and immediately turned to run in the direction he heard the chanting from, instinctively charging chakra into his claws, causing them to grow sharper and longer.

Once he'd seen the silhouette, he fell into full sprint and thrust.

He noticed too late that Haku was waiting for him, with ice blades formed on his arms.

A split second later, Naruto's hand had cut through Haku's chest and penetrated his back, while Haku's ice blade had done the same. He'd also aimed an ice blade Naruto's forehead, and had split his hunter-nin mask in two, but his tails had moved instinctively to block the attack, and blade had barely penetrated the skin. Naruto coughed blood onto his chest, and Haku simply smiled. The older boy slumped backwards as the leaf-nin fell to his knees, each dislodging themselves from their opponent.

With no chakra to support it, the mist began to clear. And as it did, Naruto heard a disgusting laugh. "Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe things have worked out so well for me!"

Naruto looked to the unfinished end of the bridge. There was a short man with unruly hair and a mustache standing with what had to be a hundred armed thugs. He sneered as he realized that this must be the Gatou he'd heard about. The miniscule man continued, "Who would have thought I'd be lucky enough to have free reign at Tazuna, and I wouldn't even have to pay Zabuza for the job! All right men, all you've got to do is kill this broken ninja and the bridge builder."

The thugs began laughing and brandishing their weapons. Naruto smirked. "It may not be my job to kill you." He stood up wobbly, "But on general principal, you guys need to die. **Tajyuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

A hundred Naruto clones, each looking to be in perfect health appeared on the bridge. As the clones brandished their own weapons at the thugs, Naruto focused on healing his gaping chest wound. As soon as he felt like he could move again, he hefted Zabuza's sword again, then flashed a sadistic looking smile. "Let's get 'em."

(Scene Break)

After he finished burying Haku's body, Naruto placed Zabuza's sword as a grave marker. He wasn't sure why he did it, he just felt like the boy deserved a proper burial. Unsure of what to do, Naruto stood at the grave for a while, before turning his back on the cliff overlooking Tazuna's village and returning to Konoha.

(Flashback)

"KAI!"

Naruto dispelled the sleeping jutsu around him and leapt into the arena. Sasuke stepped to chase after the sand siblings, but Naruto grabbed his shoulder, "Hold it." The Uchiha glared at him, "Forget about them, go to your sensei for instructions." The glare didn't change, and the Genin didn't move, so Naruto glared back, but decided to play to the boy's pride. "You need to protect the audience from attacking Chuunin and Jounin, now go!"

Sasuke nodded and leapt up into the stands. Naruto moved to chase after the sand siblings but was cut off by their sensei. "I think not, Fox-Hunter." He smirked, "Those three are very important to our plan here."

Naruto scowled, "Tch, I don't have time for this."

"Leave him to me." Naruto turned around and saw Kabuto standing behind him, "I'll handle Baki, you go do what you have to do."

Naruto nodded and left, the Sand-nin moved to stop him, but the Kabuto cut him off. As soon as Naruto couldn't hear, they smiled, "Nice acting Kabuto."

Kabuto's smile widened.

(Scene Break)

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

The reporter lady scratched her chin, "Apparently a lot of people didn't get last chapter's omake."

The Author shrugged, "That was the point… I think. I was heavily inebriated at the time."

"That would explain so much." The bartender said, still cleaning the same glass.

"So anyway," The reporter said, "got any more ficlets for us?"

Alacron nodded, "Why yes, yes I do. Though I should probably include a warning: This ficlet contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as well as my own interpretation of what might happen after the books. If you don't know about the spoilers for the book, and don't want to know, then don't read. Also, I will be using anime that I haven't exactly seen the endings to, such as Full Metal Alchemist, which, I may add, I have only seen up to the beginnings of the battle in Lior of. However, please don't correct me, or give me any spoilers for those series, as I do intend to watch them."

(Scene Break)

**Daily Prophet Special Report**

Hogwarts to Re-Open After Ten Year Hiatus

Following the death of Albus Dumbledore, and the true beginning of the Second War, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was closed down in order to better protect the students, and so that more focus could be put on the war itself. Although the war ended five years ago, reconstruction efforts, a lack of willing and able teachers, as well as too few students kept the school from re-opening it's doors to prepare children for the wizarding world. However, now Harry Potter, renowned as The Enemy of Darkness as well as bringing forth a magical revolution has been working hard for the last year to re-open the school.

"The best years of my life were spent in that school." Mr. Potter was quoted as saying. "I wanted to give children a chance to be as happy as I was before the war started."

Mr. Potter has been accepted into the Wizengamont, and been given the Order of Merlin for both his work towards ending the war as well as his studies in dimensional magic. In fact, he has used his dimensional magic to bring new teachers to fill the teaching positions at the school.

For the sake of making the students and their parents feel more comfortable, each teacher has been sorted into a house.

Naruto Uzumaki  
Age: 24  
Position: Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor  
House: Gryffindor  
Quote: "When you get knocked down, jump right back up and give the finger to whatever knocked you down."

Lina Inverse-Gabriev  
Age: 23  
Position: Charms Professor  
House: Ravenclaw  
Quote: "Don't take crap from anyone, and always give it your all."

Edward Elric  
Age: 20  
Position: Transfiguration Professor  
House: Ravenclaw  
Quote: "Knowledge is the path to true power."

Zelgadis Graywoods  
Age: 26  
Position: Potions Professor  
House: Slytherin  
Quote: "Never lose sight of your goal."

Shuichi Minamino  
Age: 27  
Position: Herbology Professor  
House: Slytherin  
Quote: "Careful planning can always overcome skill."

Yugi Mouto  
Age: 22  
Position: Care for Magical Creatures Professor  
House: Hufflepuff  
Quote: "Your friends are your most important treasure."

Ness Franklin  
Age: 24  
Position: Divination Professor  
House: Gryffindor  
Quote: "Evil can only win when good people do nothing."

Arthur Weasley  
Age: 53  
Position: Muggle Studies Professor  
House: Gryffindor  
Quote: "No matter what the circumstances, your fellow man is your brother."

Janus Zeal  
Age: 23  
Position: Ancient Runes Professor  
House: Slytherin  
Quote: N/A

Schala Zeal  
Age: 29  
Position: Astronomy Professor  
House: Ravenclaw  
Quote: "The power of good and evil lies within the hearts of all of us."

Genya Arikado  
Age: 36  
Position: Arithmancy Professor  
House: Slytherin  
Quote: "Never look to past in regret, look to the future with hope."

Botan Shinime  
Age: 22  
Position: Flight Instructor  
House: Hufflepuff  
Quote: "Death is never the end, it's only a new beginning."

Gourry Gabriev  
Age: 26  
Position: Physical Education Instructor  
House: Gryffindor  
Quote: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Alfonse Elric  
Age: 18  
Position: Caretaker  
House: Hufflepuff  
Quote: "Never give up, what you may think is a dead end may just be a great starting point."

Sakura Haruno  
Age:24  
Position: Nurse  
House: Ravenclaw  
Quote: "Keep your head held high, and walk forward with confidence."

(Scene Break)

AN: Wow, that Omake took longer than I thought it would.

Once again, sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoyed the fight scenes.


	11. War

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 11

AN: **For those of you who have no idea what an Omake is…**

Taken from Wikipedia: The Omake included with anime often include comedy sketches where the characters behave out of character, breaking the fourth wall, or subtly addressing opinions of the fandom known to the writers.

Basically, it's something extra, outside the plot that I am using to tickle my own funny bone. You can either go with it, or skip over it. It doesn't really matter to me either way.

Also, this battle will probably get bloody. Just a warning. Oh, and there will be a pretty big plot twist. Another warning for ya.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Naruto leapt out of the arena and landed on the edge of the amphitheater. He took a quick sweep of what he could see. He spotted the sand siblings making a break for the edge of the city, and that many Sand and Sound-nin were moving to cover their escape.

'_Che, well this is just great. Now should I chase after Shukaku or should I stay and help defend the city?' _Naruto thought.

"Die Leaf scum!" A Sound-nin leapt from the audience at him, Naruto spun on his heel and kicked him in the stomach, then flipped him over and threw him off the building. The chuunin regained his breath and attached himself to the wall of a nearby building, and his team quickly moved to join him. Naruto also spied a team of Sand-nin moving in on his position.

"Fuck." Naruto spat. "Guess they made my decision for me."

The hunter-nin leapt down into the streets, trying to meet the Sound team first. He dashed forward, moving through the first chuunin's guard and started to deliver a flurry of punches to his midsection, then a straight kick to knock him back. He backflipped to avoid the shuriken thrown at him and pulled his windmill shuriken from one of the pockets of his trenchcoat, and hurled it towards the Sound jounin who was in charge of the squad, and quickly began forming hand seals.

The jounin easily dodged the weapon, but the weapon arced back and cleaved his last subordinate in half. The jounin cursed but kept charging, as he got close Naruto finished his hand seals, "**Katon, Karyuu Endan!**" A stream napalm shot from his mouth, which the jounin dodged, but the real target, the chuunin who Naruto had knocked away, was still disoriented, and his scream let everyone know that Naruto's attack had hit home.

Naruto didn't have time to celebrate as he was immeditely hit in the back with a drop kick from the first chuunin he fought. Naruto stumbled forward, and was kicked by the jounin in the chin launching him upwards, and then leapt up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him into a wall. Naruto bounced off the stone and gripped the wall with his chakra, "Well fuck." Naruto said aloud as the Sand team arrived, and battle suddenly went from two-on-one to six-on-one.

His ears twitched as he sensed a familiar chakra signature. A shadow leapt from out of the shadows of the building behind the Sand team and cleanly planted two kunai the backs of one of the chuunin. As the sand-nin fell, the other ninja whipped their heads around trying to get a look at just who was attacking them, and Naruto used that distraction to leap from the wall and land on the Sound jounin's back, and proceeded to snap his neck. He kicked off the dead ninja's back and drew another kunai, he threw it at the jounin, "**Kage Kunai no Jutsu!**" The one kunai became a dozen, and the jounin was only able to block a few of them before one kunai planted itself in his chest, and shock kept him from avoiding the rest.

Naruto's ally spun around and delivered a powerful backhand to a chuunin who had leapt at her, and she then lifted her hand to her face and blew a gust of air while shouting, "**Kaze no Yaiba!**" and the chuunin was sliced open by several wind blades. She and Naruto charged the last two chuunin, who were standing back to back, and each delivered a powerful punch to their opponents stomachs, knocking them out.

Naruto looked to his rescuer, "Anko-sempai, what are you doing here? Are you watching out for me or something?"

The special jounin almost smirked, "Hey it's your fault. Ninja are supposed to work in teams of at least two, especially in wartime. I'm just looking out for my fellow Leaf-nin that's all."

Naruto snorted as he moved to retrieve his windmill shuriken. "Well if that's the case, help me catch that Gaara kid."

Anko cocked an eyebrow, then smiled in realization, "Ah, so he's the Jinchuriki that Hokage-sama told us about right?"

"Yeah." The hunter-nin said. "They've already got a pretty good headstart, so let's get moving."

(Scene Break)

"**Terror Wave!**"

The sound-nin stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide with horror. The pink-haired girl in front of them had suddenly become the most frightening thing they'd ever seen in their lives. Of course, she was quickly overshadowed by the ten foot tall clay golem that leapt over her and bashed their heads into the ground. The chuunins' teammates ran around the corner to come to their allies' aid, only to have their faces kicked in by Sasuke and Lee.

The two Sound-nin flew down the street, the one kicked by Lee had been immediately knocked out, but the one Sasuke had kicked, the jounin, had landed perfectly on his feet and leapt back at the two genin. The three traded blows for a while before the jounin got a lucky hit and knocked Lee away, and began to attack Sasuke relentlessly. Just as the Uchiha was beginning to wear out, the Jounin froze in place. Sasuke looked in bewilderment for a while before he heard Shinta shout, "Get out of the way!"

Sasuke leapt away from the Jounin just as Shinta pressed his hands to the ground. "**Earth's Maw no Jutsu!**" Spikes appeared shot up from the earth, surrounding the jounin, and then snapped upwards, catching him like a bear trap. As he released the jutsu, Shinta and Sakura winced when they saw the bloody pulp that the jounin had become.

Sasuke's attention was on the long shadow that was quickly retreating from the now very dead jounin to the shadows of a building. "Come on out, I know you're there."

Shikamaru and Chouji walked out from the shade. Shinta looked at them quizically. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Asuma-sensei told us to find the other rookies and stick with them." Shikamaru said. The other genin didn't say anything, as their jounin instructors had given them the same orders.

Lee stepped up, "Hey, have you seen my team anywhere by chance?"

Chouji shook his head. "I saw them before the battle started, but haven't seen them for a while now. Have any of you seen Ino?"

Sakura shook her head, "She was sitting with me during the tournament, but she fell asleep because of that genjutsu. After Kakashi-sensei told us to team up with the other rookies I went to look for her but she was already gone."

Shikamaru sighed and stepped back into the alley. "We'd better go find them, we'll have a better chance of surviving if we're all together."

(Scene Break)

"Hey Kakashi! How many have you taken down so far!" Gai cried enthusiastically.

"Hmm, about 27 I think…" The jounin replied non-chalantly.

"YOSH! I've gotten 29, that means I'm winning."

Asuma sighed as he knocked out another Sound-nin. "Hey, are you guys sure it was a good idea to send our genin away?"

"Don't worry about it." Kakashi waved him off and planted another kunai into the heart of an advancing Sand-nin. "They're pretty good for genin, as long as they stay away from the really powerful shinobi and large groups of enemies then they should be okay."

Kurenai leapt off of a ninja she had just killed, "I hope so."

Gai knocked another ninja into the arena, "Ha! Don't worry, my students will definitely be able to protect yours."

"Now now Gai," Kakashi said, "Let's not turn this into a competition."

The other two jounin sighed as Kakashi said those words, while Gai seemed to get fire in his eyes. "YOSH! Kakashi, I wager that my students will take down more ninja than yours."

(Scene Break)

"**Gatsuuga!**" Kiba and Akamaru tore through a group of four Sound ninja, severely injuring each of them. Then Neji, Ten-Ten and Shino charged three of the chuunin, Shino attack with two bug-clones, hitting him a dozen times in a well prepared combo before wrapping a swarm of bugs around him and draining him of chakra. Ten-Ten attacked her opponent with two kodachi. Neji attacked the third, least injured chuunin with dozens of well aimed blows from the gentle fist style.

The jounin leader nursed her injured shoulder as she watched her subordinates get cut down by genin. She growled as she heard the boy and his dog come in for another attack. She spun around and expertly grabbed them each by the arm, "You stupid piece of dog-shit!" And slammed their heads together. She dropped them in surprise as she could feel some kind of jutsu hit her mind. _'What the hell is this, genjutsu?'_

Before she knew her consciousness was drowned out, and the jounin turned around, smiling, "Alright Shino, do your thing."

The Aburame nodded and sent his bugs to cover the jounin's body, draining it of chakra. Just before she passed out, Ino returned to her own body, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs that were left in her mind from nearly passing out. In the month intermission for the Chuunin Exams, she had been training with her father to perfect her family technique, and so the effects on the body she possesed would not affect her body as much. It still drained a lot of her own chakra though. She smiled at the girl holding her steady, "Thanks again Hinata."

The Hyuuga heiress nodded silently, then turned her attention to her teammate, "Kiba-kun, are you alright?"

The Inuzuka was rubbing his head, "Oww. Man, that bitch really hit us hard." Akamaru whined in agreement.

"Well you guys are handling yourselves pretty well." The group turned to see the rest of the Shikamaru and the rest of the rookies emerge from a shadowy alley.

"Hold it!" Kiba shouted, pointing a finger at the group. "How do we know that you're really our allies, and not just some Sound-nin in disguise."

"Just try smelling them." Shino said, with just a hint of condescension in his voice.

Kiba scratched his head. "Oh, yeah."

Lee ran towards Neji, "Neji! I must know, how many ninja have you defeated in this battle so far?"

Neji raised an eyebrow, but answered anyway, "Four."

"Dammit!" Lee cried, tears flowing in a waterfall onto the ground. "I've only gotten three, I must surpass you my Rival."

Ten-Ten planted her face in her hands, "Oh Kami-sama, not this again."

It was about at this point that a Sound jounin fell from atop the building next to the rather large group, screaming. He landed on the pavement, followed shortly by Naruto, who landed hard on the ninja's stomach. He looked to the assembled, genin and raised a hand in greeting. "Yo." His trenchcoat was torn in several places and splattered with blood, but he didn't look to be sporting any wounds.

Anko landed next to him shortly after. "Well, just who we were looking for." The special jounin looked to be in a similar state as her partner.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You were looking for us?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, still standing on the unconscious jounin, "Head to hospital and reinforce the defenses there. The battle seems to be focused both there and at the amphitheater."

"Hey," Chouji said aloud, "Before we leave, I think everyone should take one of these." He pulled a bag of soldier pills out from his field pack.

Each of the genin took one gladly, and Anko took a few, saying she may need some later in the battle, but Naruto refused when they were offered to him. "No thanks. I'm… allergic."

Chouji shrugged and pocketed the bag again, but Anko looked at him quizically. _'I've never heard of someone being allergic to soldier pills before. I wonder what his deal is?'_

"All right, let's go." Neji said, leaping onto a roof. The rest of the genin followed him up, and made their way for the hospital.

Naruto looked at group of Sand-nin who were advancing from down the street, then at Anko, "Shall we?" He said with smirk.

"Yes, let's" She returned the smirk.

(Scene Break)

Baki tried to step around Kabuto to get to the other jounin, but the genin stepped in his way again. The Sand-nin frowned, "That's enough Kabuto, you can drop the act now."

Kabuto smirked, "Who's acting?" He lashed out with a chakra scalpel, but Baki leapt away before he could get cut.

"Kabuto! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Baki cried out.

"Defending my village." The silver haired genin performed several hand seals and suddenly several zombies emerged from the ground, and leapt at the veiled ninja. Baki grunted and let loose a flurry of wind blades, towards Kabuto, knowing that he couldn't do any damage to the corpses. Unfortunately Kabuto saw that attack coming and sent a corpse to block the attack.

Baki leapt backwards, dodging the rain of undead fists as he went. "Why would you turn traitor?"

Kabuto laughed, "Traitor? I'm way more loyal than you are. You see, I have honored all of my original promises, while the Sound consists of nothing more than missing-nin, traitors to their own countries, and the Sand who betrayed their alliance to the Leaf. Even Orochimaru is a traitor to this village."

Baki spun around and shouted, "**Cutting Wind!**" Firing off a large wind cutter which bisected a corpse. "This is unbelievable."

Kabuto casually performed hand seals to mend the broken corpse back together, or at least keep it active long enough to finish the fight. "Unbelievable? You forget that we are ninja, Baki. This is perhaps the most common form of espionage, though I suppose it can seem unbelievable when it happens to you."

The Sand-nin grit his teeth as a few more blows got through his guard. He began to retreat and perform hand seals quickly, then leapt onto the wall and bounced off, landing in the middle of the group of zombies. "**Sickling Tornado!**" Huge wind blades began circling him at unimaginable speed, chopping each of the corpses into pieces, with no chance of being put back together.

Kabuto smirked and drew several senbon. He began to charge massive amounts of chakra into each of them, and threw them to the source of the storm, Baki. As they hit, they tore fist-sized holes into his flesh, but the jounin exploded into smoke, and was revealed to be a log.

Kabuto smirked wider. This would be more fun than he'd originally thought.

(Scene Break)

Naruto was surprised at how well he was working with Anko. As a matter of fact, he was surprised that he was working well with anyone, but he couldn't deny just how useful it was to have someone cover you while you performed hand seals. That, and she had the same gung-ho attitude he did, and didn't mind staying out of the action long enough for him to perform a poweful attack so long as he returned the favor.

Naruto smirked inwardly as he downed another Sound-nin, _'I could really get used to having a partner.'_

"**GUUOOO!**"

Naruto turned towards the sound of the noise, and his face went pale. Shukaku stood before the village in all his unholy might. The hunter-nin could just barely make out Gaara sticking out from atop the monster's head. He killed the ninja who tried to take advantage of his distracted state, then turned to Anko, "I gotta go take care of this. Try to take care of those genin if you can okay?"

Anko nodded gravely, "Just go already, keep that thing from reaching the village."

Naruto sped off as Anko covered his escape.

(Scene Break)

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

The reporter lady turned to the author. "You seemed to be getting a pretty mixed reaction over these Omake, have any words about that?"

The author looked at her, "Everything I wanted to say, I already said in the beginning Author's note."

"Right, well there have been some requests to continue with the Omake you did last time. Any words on that?"

He shrugged, "Well that's what I was planning on doing anyway, since I really only set it up last time." He took a swig of his favorite alchoholic concoction. "I will say this though, don't expect it to be anything more than pure crack. The idea to make a bunch of crack ficlets was heavily inspired by Asuka Kureru's 'Harry Potter Crack Ficlets' and I suggest you go read that if you want an idea of what to expect."

The reporter lady sweat dropped, "You're actually plugging someone _else's _story?"

He shrugged, "Why not? I don't think that I'm ripping her off, but those things are pretty funny." He took another swig, "Oh, and read her other Naruto ficts too. I mean, I don't even like Yaoi but I like her ficts."

"I see…"

"Anyway, first off is the opening dinner at Hogwarts."

(Scene Break)

"Why won't they stop staring at me?"

"They've never seen a chimera before of course." Lina muttered as she took a break from gorging herself.

"Actually," Sakura said, "I think that they're looking more at you, Gourry and Naruto's eating habits than Zelgadis." She sighed, "I'll never understand how you guys can eat so much without gaining any weight."

"Figh begallofism."

"Swallow your food before you speak Naruto."

(Gulp) "High metalobism."

Edward swallowed another roll, "I think they might be a little wary of Gourry mostly. This school has never had a Physical Education teacher before, so they're probably wondering why he's here."

"Well, I'd say they're wary of all of us at the moment." Genya said as he cut his raw steak. "None of us really look like the wizards of this world now do we?"

Janus scoffed, "I refuse to wear some stupid pointed hat."

Harry mock pouted, "I like my hat."

(Scene Break)

Read, Review, Repeat.


	12. Showdown With Shukaku

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 12

AN: Not much to say, other than sorry for the shorter than usual delay.

(Flashback)

"We believe that the attack will commence during the match between Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Sand. We have information from two reliable sources that Gaara is a Jinchuriki." Murmurs spread around the assembled ninja. "Kakashi."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to extensively prepare Sasuke for his match. Gaara is to be considered incredibly dangerous; we don't want to lose the last of the Uchiha to him."

The jounin bowed, "I understand."

"Hokage-sama," Ebisu stepped forward, "Where exactly are we getting this information from?"

"We have had a mole in Orochimaru's network for some time now." The head of the hospital grinned at this, and the Hokage continued where he had left off. "We also have information that Orochimaru plans to summon Kyodaija (1) to lead the attack. In response, Jiraiya will be leading the wall defense with a summon of his own." The Toad Hermit nodded in acknowledgement. "However that also leaves us with the possibility of another demon attacking the village and nothing to counter it."

The crowd began to shift uncomfortably, but Jiraiya spoke up, "Actually Sensei, Naruto has already finished his training with me, and he managed to summon Gamabunta just yesterday in fact."

Murmurs went around the room, each slightly in disbelief that the young hunter-nin had managed to do what only Jiraiya and the Yondaime had managed in recent history. Naruto on the other hand, didn't even seem to acknowledge that his name had been said aloud.

"Alright, because I'm sure that Orochimaru has spies here in the village, I want you to be as discreet as possible while spreading this information to the other ninja of the village. Not everyone needs to be aware of our full plans, but the academy teachers must at least know to get their students into the shelters before the battle begins." Heads nodded around the room, and one could practically hear the gears working in each ninja's head as they tried to figure out where, how, when and who to tell first. "Dismissed."

The briefing room was quickly emptied, with only ninja smoke to show that they'd even been there a second before.

(Flashback)

As Naruto leapt from building to building, he slashed his hand with his claws and began forming hand seals. One may have noticed that the amount of seals he was using was much more than that of a typical summoning jutsu. It was something that Jiraiya had taught him, a more arcane form of the summoning technique, in which the user would tie his chakra to the creature he wanted to summon, not only giving the summoner advanced abilities, but also a chance to give the creature an idea of what they were getting into before being called.

As he continued to perform the seals, the black lines that normally spread along the ground during the summon began to spread along his body like a tattoo instead. He used power of the technique to empower his leg muscles, working to get to the wall before Shukaku could reach it. When the tattoo reached his face, he could feel the familiar presence of the Toad Boss in his mind.

'_Gamabunta-sama.'_

'_Oi brat!'_ Naruto could almost feel the toad take a drag on his pipe. _'That's the thing you want me to fight?'_

'_Yes.'_

A sense of resignation came over him, _'Alright, let's get this over with.'_

Naruto reached the wall, and used the jutsu to enhance his final leap, shooting upwards twenty stories until he was right over the demon. He shot his palm downward, the tattoo rolling off his body and into the air, "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

The impressively sized toad landed on the sand demon, but Shukaku had curled up to avoid having his weak point take damage. Gamabunta leapt straight upwards again and drew his katana from its sheath, but Shukaku blew a gust of wind that knocked him off course. The large toad had to twist himself to avoid landing on top of Konoha itself.

'_Damn, we can't fight like this…'_ Naruto projected.

'_Kid, we've got to find some way to lure him away from Konoha.'_

'_Right but how?'_

'_Come on! You're the one with the Kyuubi's memories, just look for something in there.'_

'… _Got it!'_

Naruto deepened his link with the Toad Boss, and the two began to speak in tandem. "**Hey you fucking squirrel! How dare you show your ugly face here! Get your fat ass out of here before I break my sword off in it!**"

The sand demon gripped its head, and screamed, "**GUOOO! You bitch! How dare you speak to me like that! I'm a tanuki!**"

The sand demon charged the two, not able to notice Naruto's smirk. The Toad Boss hopped off to the side, dodging the charge. Gamabunta nonchalantly took another drag on his pipe. "**Come on, you're just embarrassing yourself in front of the humans squirrel.**"

Another unholy scream filled the air, and Naruto and Gamabunta began to lead Shukaku on a mad chase away from Konoha.

(Scene Break)

"Man," Shinta said mouth still wide open, "I _never_ expected a demon to behave like that."

Just as he finished that sentence, Sasuke ran behind him and delivered a powerful kick to the jaw of the ninja who had been trying to take advantage of Shinta's surprise. The Uchiha cast an accusing glare at his teammate. "Don't gawk you moron, you're gonna get killed!"

The brown haired boy blushed in embarrassment. "Right, sorry."

"**Kagemane no Jutsu!**" Several ninja were suddenly frozen in their tracks by the Nara family jutsu. Shikamaru looked over at the Jounin he was with, "Go! Get 'em now!"

Genma nodded, and spat out the senbon he'd been chewing on, then formed and hand seal, "**Kage Senbon no Jutsu!**" Several hundred needles appeared and peppered the bodies of the incapacitated ninja. Shikamaru released his jutsu and the enemies' bodies crumpled to the ground.

"Genma!" A cry came from behind. Ino ran up to her squad leader, panting slightly. The jounin put another senbon in his mouth and turned to face the blonde, "I was just in the mind of one of the enemy commanders, and I think that they've managed to slip some ninja into the hospital under disguise."

"You're sure about this?" She nodded, "Do you know what these spies look like?" She nodded again, "Alright, take the Hyuugas and Ten-Ten and find them, then take them out."

Ino gave a salute and leapt off to form a new squad. Genma sighed, he was slightly miffed at first about being put in charge of a bunch of Genin, but they had proven themselves to be surprisingly capable. It was a bit surreal for him, but sake usually helped him when dealing with things like that, and he pulled his favorite flask from his ninja pouch.

"Genma-sensei!" The jounin almost dropped his drink as Lee shouted behind him. He almost glared at the kid, for some reason he just got on his nerves. Maybe it was the fact that he seemed to be to happy for being in the middle of a war, maybe it was the fact that for some reason the kid was calling him sensei, or maybe it was that he just looked too goddamn much like Gai. Or maybe it was a combination of all three.

"What is it Lee?"

"I've secured the buildings surrounding the hospital, what would you have me do next?"

The jounin scratched his chin, "Uh, I don't know, maybe you could go give support to Sasuke's team for a while?"

The Genin gave a salute, and the Jounin went back to his drink. He'd gotten the cap off when he'd realized Lee was still there. "Something wrong?"

"Uh, well sensei, I was wondering if I could have a drink." He asked bashfully.

"Oh, yeah sure whatever." Genma tossed the drink over to the Gai-look-alike. He felt a little bad for giving alcohol to a kid, but he couldn't really see how a sip could do him any harm. After all, this was a war and lowering your inhibitions a little usually helped someone deal with things like this. _'Wait a minute… Didn't Gai mention something about Lee and alcohol before?' _His eyes shot open in realization as Lee threw his head back and downed the entire contents of the flask in one gulp. "Oh shit."

Lee stumbled a little, dropping the flask by his feet and then looked down the street, where two squads of Sound and Sand-nin were advancing. "What're you lookin' at?"

(Scene Break)

'_Persistent son of a bitch isn't he?'_

'_You don't know the half of it.'_

Naruto stole another glance at the sand demon, who had long ago fallen to all four of his limbs in order to chase after the giant toad. He'd been shouting obscenities the whole time since they'd started leading him away from Konoha, which was now out of sight from what Naruto could see atop Gamabunta. _'All right, time to launch a counter-offensive.'_

Gamabunta sent an affirmative thought, and leapt high into the air, spinning around to face the demon and sending off water blasts. Shukaku responded with wind blasts to block the projectiles, and charged the boss toad as he landed, reaching out with one of his forepaws as he went. The toad quickly pulled his giant katana from its sheath and impaled the paw in the ground, but Shukaku didn't even acknowledge the pain, if he even felt any, and spun around on the sword while delivering a kick to the toad's face. As Gamabunta landed a good distance away, Shukaku ripped the sword from the ground and hurled toward his foe.

Gamabunta quickly got back on his feet and caught the sword in a ninja clap. _'Kid, we need a new plan.'_

Naruto nodded, _'Can you get me on his head? I'm sure that if I take out Gaara then Shukaku should disappear too.'_

'_Are you sure about this? You'd be fighting him right where he'd have the biggest advantage. He'd be able to focus all of his power on using his own body to crush you. Even with the Kyuubi's powers, I'm not sure you have enough of a mastery of your demonic abilities to go toe to toe with something like _that_. Not only that, but if you die, then my connection will be gone too, and this thing will have free reign to attack Konoha.'_

'_Well, it's better than trying to outlast him! We need to find someway to get me up there…'_

'_Transform me into something with teeth and claws. Then I'll be able to get a good grip.'_

Naruto smirked, _'Got just the thing.'_

"**Henge!**" Came the chorus as the giant toad was enveloped in smoke. Before the smoke could clear, a red-furred nine-tailed fox leapt out. Shukaku's eyes widened as he was gripped by the transformed Gamabunta.

Naruto leapt off of his gigantic mount and charged the boy who carried the demon. He was only three feet from his goal when the sand around him exploded and Gamabunta was pushed back by Shukaku. The sand began to wrap its way around the hunter-nin, but he just scowled and flared his youki again. The sand fell back into the demon as its own youki was disrupted, but he couldn't launch another offensive because several sand clones, each resembling a smaller scale version of Shukaku rose up.

"Jeez, can't you see that this won't work?" Naruto flared his youki again, but this time nothing happened. His eyes widened in shock as the clones attacked anyway. The assault was well coordinated, and his time was completely taken up just dodging attacks, he didn't even have a chance to attack. As he continued to dodge attacks, he noticed something odd that he hadn't before about Gaara. _'He's asleep?'_

'_Who's asleep?'_ Gamabunta asked mentally.

'_Gaara, maybe he needs to be asleep to allow Shukaku to take over… Wait! If he's asleep then Shukaku is the one controlling the sand clones. Gamabunta, keep attacking Shukaku.'_

'_You sure about this kid? You could end up dead.'_

'_I'll be fine; we need to divide his attention between the two of us.'_

'_Got it.'_

The ground Naruto was standing on shook as the Toad Boss slammed into Shukaku again, but both he and the clones managed to keep their grip. Once his footing had steadied, he assaulted the clones, but each time he attacked the clones would simply reform themselves. _'Dammit, this isn't working; I've got to find someway to get to Gaara fast!'_

As he kicked off the head of another clone, he paid closer attention to it as it reformed. _'Wait, that pattern… He's forming a chakra circulatory system for each clone, so that I can't knock the chakra out of them. (2) But maybe if I… Yes!'_ Naruto rushed another clone and stuck his hand through its chest, then channeled his youki through his hand and twisted it, corrupting the circulatory system with his own demonic chakra. The clone fell to pieces, not able to reform until his own chakra had dissipated from it, which wouldn't be for a while.

After he received another warning from Gamabunta, Naruto channeled more chakra into his feet, to give himself a better grip. Once the attack began, footing shook again and the clones had to stop to hang onto their footing, but Naruto had been prepared and continued his assault, kicking and punching, destroying the circulatory systems of each clone.

'_That's four down, three to go.'_ He thought as he rushed his next target. When he was almost within range, the clone spun around, whipping its tail, and Naruto's eyes widened in shock again as he saw the three foot long scythe attached to the end of it. Naruto took a quick step back, but the blade still raked across his chest, "Guh!" He gripped the wound, trying to force it to close with his demonic traits. Another sand clone attacked, this time with blades sticking out from its claws. _'God damn it! Where are these blades coming from?' _He dodged the clone, and was attacked again by the first one. With the blades came added range to their attacks, and Naruto was too busy trying to heal himself to counterattack. While he was dodging he noticed the third sand clone gathering youki from Shukaku itself to create more sand clones.

As he dodged another flurry of blades, Naruto felt he had healed his chest enough to attack again, and pulled two kunai to parry the blades. He continued to block, but made a desperate counter by slamming his fist into the side of one of the blades, only intending to knock it away, and stumbled when it had shattered. _'What? It's… glass? They're changing the sand in their bodies into glass so that they can create weapons.'_ Naruto dodged backwards, and was met with a flurry of sharp glass shards fired at him. He parried most of them, but received several cuts in the process.

'_Damn, this isn't like the memories of Shukaku at all. Did he… did he create this moves just to fight me? Damn, then I can't hold back either.' _Naruto spun around, throwing off his trench coat in the process, and unwinding his four tails from his waist. The tails popped open some of the pockets on his slacks and gripped kunai. The half demon charged the sand clones, and ripped them apart, infecting them with his chakra to prevent them from reforming. He attacked the final sand clone, but was quickly ambushed by the three more it had created while he was busy with the first two, and each was quickly forming their own glass blades to fight him with.

Naruto threw his two kunai in the air and formed a few hand seals while deflecting blows with his tails, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Four clones surrounded the original, and set off on fighting one of the sand clones. Naruto resumed his charge for the slumbering sand-nin. As he did, sharp glass spikes shot up from the ground, trying to impale him. Naruto used all of his agility and advance senses to dodge the spikes while working his way closer to Gaara, then leapt up into the air. Hundreds of spikes shot up, Naruto tried to deflect them, but his kunai were knocked out of his hands and tails. The spikes continued to rain upon him from below, hitting him in several vital organs. As he fell, Naruto delivered a punch to Gaara's forehead, and fell to the ground coughing up blood and trying to heal his possibly fatal wounds.

Shukaku let out a guttural scream as he dissipated, and the two boys fell to the forest below. Naruto landed hard on a brand high off the ground, stumbling for a moment. He looked at Gaara, who was standing on a branch not far away, gripping the tree for balance, and his head in pain. Not surprising, since the punch should have been powerful enough to crack the skull. The demon container stared down the half-demon in shock, both that he'd been beaten and that his opponent was a half-demon. From what he had figured, he had thought that Naruto was a Jinchuriki like him. "Damn it!" Gaara cried, "Why can't I kill you? Why!"

Naruto coughed, then stood to his full height, looking very intimidating. "You're so pitiful." He smiled, his teeth red from the blood. "You're controlled by your demonic urges, just like back in the days when you were free, Shukaku. All you want is death and destruction, you can't even properly appreciate a good prank, good food or females. But, I know your secret now." The smile widened, rows of sharp teeth almost gleaming, "You're just a human in a demon's body, that's why you don't know what it really means to be a demon. Well maybe now that you're trapped back in a human's body, you'll learn to appreciate things like that. Humans and demons really aren't all that different, maybe now you'll be able to realize that." As he finished, Naruto fell off the branch he was standing on, unconscious.

A figure leapt out of the underbrush, and caught the falling boy. Jiraiya looked to his godson with a sad smile. "Easy there Naruto, you won. Konoha is safe." He looked up at Gaara, and saw the boys siblings leap off with him in their arms. The Sannin left to take Naruto back to the Third's mansion, which was where the boy would have to rest until his wounds healed, if they would.

"Jiraiya!" The white haired Sannin snapped his head off to the side, panic quickly setting in. "Is Naruto oka- What the hell? What's wrong with him?"

(Chapter End)

Footnotes

1. According to the Rokudaime site, Kyodaija is the name of the three headed snake that Orochimaru summons.

2. The idea is that Naruto can't knock chakra out of a circulatory system, otherwise he'd be able to kill someone just by flaring his youki.

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!

The reporter lady's mouth was hanging open. Then she quickly turned to the cloaked author and beat him over the head with her microphone. "HOW DARE YOU LEAVE A CLIFFIE LIKE THAT?"

The author took no notice of the abuse and continued drinking. "Aren't you supposed to have a code of conduct or something?"

The lady regained her composure, and smoothed out her outfit and hair. "Well, is there anything that you'd like to say to the readers?"

"Yes, sorry for the short delay, but my computer has been crashing lately. I don't know what caused it, or what made it stop, but for some reason my wireless internet isn't working anymore. I'll have to get that fixed sometime soon.

"Second, this fight turned out a lot different than I thought it would when I had first started writing this fic, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result. It stays pretty true to the canon but is different enough to be interesting. At least, I think so.

"Thirdly, the sorting of my Hogwarts story."

(Omake!)

"How long has it been now?" Naruto asked, head on the table, barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Four hours, by my watch." Ed said, "This is getting ridiculous, we're only just getting to the sixth years."

Yes, since the school had been closed for ten years, none of the students had been to Hogwarts before, and thus had never been sorted. For some reason, the hat was especially taking its sweet time with the older students.

"Whose bright idea was it to hold the sorting right after dinner?" Janus asked.

Several people pointed to Harry, while Harry pointed in some random direction. Zelgadis' eye twitched. "What are you pointing at?"

"My office." Harry replied. "The paintings of the former headmasters said this would be for the best."

"You listened to _paintings_?" Kurama asked.

"Of course." Harry said, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

"I still need to get used to this world." Janus said. "I feel like blasting something. Anybody got a target?"

Naruto grinned and grabbed an empty plate, preparing to hurl it like a Frisbee, but Sakura grabbed his wrist. "Cut it out you two. This illusion spell is hard enough to hold without you two screwing it up."

Naruto blinked, "Illusion spell?"

Schala sighed, "You didn't notice that we'd cast an illusion spell to keep the students from noticing that several of their professors were falling asleep."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Um… Of course I did!" He then laughed nervously.

"Guess that means no." Sakura sighed. "Maybe I should go replace Lina, her voice sounds like it's getting pretty hoarse from all the yelling students names."

(Omake!)

Read, Review, Repeat.


	13. Rest and Recovery

Fox-Hunter

Chapter 13

AN: I'd apologize for the delay again, but that would be beating a dead horse.

On with the story!

(Scene Break)

Suzume walked out of the laundry room with new sheets and clothes for Naruto, and tried to ignore the sound of Anko and Jiraiya arguing. She found it hard to suppress her scowl though, how could the other woman have any doubts about Naruto? Not only did she, Jiraiya and her father trust him completely, and she had fought alongside him, if only briefly, but he had just nearly died defending the village from another demon. Suzume kicked the door to Naruto's room open, and kicked it closed a little harder than she'd intended, wincing as it slammed shut.

Okay, so maybe Suzume was being a little unfair to the woman. She hadn't actually fought the Kyuubi like Anko had. Sure, she had seen the effects, and once she had been sure that Naruto would be alright, she went to help out at the hospital, and so she had seen just what type of damage the beast was capable of inflicting. But she didn't have the first hand experience that Anko had. Most ninja who had survived the battle had developed an unreasonable fear of foxes, and seeing another demon fox must be a shock.

Suzume quickly began changing the bloody sheets on the bed and the dirty and torn clothes Naruto had been wearing. She'd been a part-time nurse ever since she'd retired as a ninja, and she knew offhand how much blood a person could lose and still remain alive, and her adoptive family had lost a lot more than that. But his healing abilities had miraculously been able to keep him alive through all of it, and she was loathe to admit that she couldn't have saved him if it weren't for his own demonic abilities. In fact, she wasn't even sure she'd done anything to help at all, and she felt a little… ashamed.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and began to examine Naruto again. His wounds were completely healed, and his scars seemed to be getting smaller. His pulse was stronger than the last time she had checked, so she knew that his blood recovery was going alright. She pried open an eyelid to check for dilation, and she gasped in surprise.

It hadn't taken long for her to get used to Naruto's blood red eyes, it was just the way he was, and she'd accepted that. And eyes that change color aren't really all that odd in the ninja community, especially Konoha. But what had surprised her most was the brilliant blue that shone from his eye. She had only seen blue eyes like that in the Fourth's face. Her mind suddenly flooded with memories of her father's first successor, and who should have been his only successor.

Suzume sighed, they'd have to find a new replacement now, but off the top of her head she couldn't think of anyone who could do it. There was Jiraiya of course, but she knew he would never stand for having that kind of responsibility, or the paperwork. Kakashi was just plain out. He was the strongest in the village now, maybe, but his chronic lateness and apathy just wouldn't be good for the village at a time like this.

She focused on Naruto's eyes again, she had only ever seen him with red eyes, even though her father had told her he originally had blue eyes. Was this something that only happened when he was asleep or unconscious? Had something changed him during the battle? Either way, Naruto was stable now, his wounds had been cleaned and the room was as sanitary as she could possibly make it. She wasn't needed here anymore, but she knew she could help down at the hospital.

(Meanwhile)

"Anko…" Jiraiya rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. "You're not listening to me."

"But he's a demon!" Anko cried, fear more apparent in her voice then anger. "He's _the _demon! He's probably just waiting for an opportunity to get revenge on the village."

"If he were trying to get revenge, then now would have been the perfect opportunity to do it." Jiraiya retorted as calmly as he could. "Instead he fought to protect the village, and fought alongside you no less. He nearly died fighting a demon that was one of the Kyuubi's old stomping partners. He made a promise to protect the village, and he's done nothing but honor that promise so far."

She scowled, but became a bit more subdued. "Promises don't mean anything to demons."

"Maybe not," Jiraiya stated plainly, "But kitsune are different. Promises made by them are magically binding, so he couldn't break it even if he wanted to. But I know Naruto, and so does Suzume and we both know that Naruto would never even think about breaking that promise. He has too much respect for the Third to do something like that." He could see her will to argue breaking, and so he decided to try and wrap it up. "Look, I know that this whole thing is a shock, but Naruto just lost his father figure, even though he doesn't know it yet. He's lost his main source of guidance, and he's going to need all the help he can get. No matter how mature he seems, he's still just a kid, and sometimes people forget that about prodigy ninja."

That last comment had struck home for Anko, so she finally resigned her point. "Okay Jiraiya, you win. I… I just need to think about this for a while."

The Sannin nodded, "I can trust you not to tell anyone about this?"

She gave a shadow of her regular cocky smirk, "I wouldn't be a very good ninja if I couldn't." She turned around and walked down the hallway. He'd heard the front door close by the time that Suzume walked out of Naruto's room.

Jiraiya looked at her expectantly, and she smiled at him. "Naruto's going to be fine, as usual." The hermit smiled back. "But… There is something I want you to look at."

His smile faded, "What is it?"

"It's… Well, just come look."

He followed her into his godson's room, slightly worried, but trusted her to take care of anything life-threatening. She leaned over him and pried one of his eyelids open. "Notice anything strange?"

"Hmm…" Jiraiya rubbed his chin, "His eyes are a different color than usual, but the question is why?"

"I can think of anything either. I doubt it's dangerous, and I'd be more worried if his eyes were normally blue but changed to red." She joked. "Uh… Jiraiya-sama?" He looked at her expectantly, "If there's nothing else, I think that I should head to the hospital now?"

"Oh, yeah, right. You'd better get going then, I've got to make a report to the council, and then see what I can do about the reconstruction."

"Alright." She smiled. "I'd better leave him a note though, so he knows where we went."

As she left the room, Jiraiya couldn't help but wonder, _'How are we going to tell him about Sarutobi-sensei?'_

(Scene Break)

Kabuto flitted around the crowded Konoha hospital waiting room, doing what he could to ease the pain of various ninja and civilians caught in the crossfire. He'd rather be in the operating room working on the more desperate cases, but as far as anyone here was concerned he was still the same luckless, talentless genin he'd been playing for the past eight years. Anyone of importance who knew was either dead or too busy to clarify. It was rather disappointing that he wasn't able to operate, and that the head of the hospital hadn't even bothered to give him clearance. _'Yeah, like father would be able to go, "Hey hand me that scalpel, oh and by the way, Kabuto's been playing double agent for a long time now and he's really good, so let him operate on someone too."'_

The biggest disappointment of the day was his fight with Baki, as apparently the Sand-nin had more tricks up his sleeve than Kabuto had given him credit for. _'I never knew you could mix different element techniques like that. I may have to try those out when I get the chance.'_

A crash startled him out of his reverie, and he almost miss-set a young man's dislocated knee. He looked back to see three jounin struggling with a still drunk and struggling Lee. One of them was Genma he knew, but the number of bruises he'd received from the intoxicated teen had made it hard to distinguish facial features. Another was Gai, Lee's sensei, who was quickly amounting a level of bruises to rival Genma's. The third he didn't recognize, but it had to be the fifth person that had come to help, but was ready to leave because of Lee's rowdiness. Nobody was allowing Genma to leave Lee alone because he'd been the one to give him the alcohol in the first place, and nobody had allowed Gai to leave (not that he had tried to) since he'd made the kid so fast and strong in the first place.

The young man looked at Kabuto quizzically. "Ah… Yakushi-san, what's going on over there?"

Kabuto smiled, "It's a kind of weird story."

"I've heard some pretty weird stories before."

"Well… a few squads of genin were assigned to a Jounin during the battle, and when one of them asked him for a drink, he accidentally passed the kid a flask of sake instead."

The man scratched his head. "That doesn't seem like it should be _this _bad."

"Well, the kid who drank the sake is a taijutsu expert. He's incredibly fast, strong, and he's a natural when it comes to drunken boxing. From what I've heard, when he first drank sake, he destroyed the bar he was in."

It was then that a woman in her early thirties walked briskly through the waiting room. Kabuto didn't recognize her until another nurse called out her name, "Ah! Suzume-chan!"

A young Hyuuga girl who had just graduated from medic-school ran up to the Third's daughter, "Suzume-chan. Is Naruto-sama going to be okay?"

The older woman gaped a bit, and it didn't escape her notice that all conversation had died and nearly every pair of eyes was on her right now. She waved everyone off, "He's fine, it's just exhaustion mostly. He'll be in top shape with some bed rest."

There were several relieved sighs and conversation had started with renewed vigor. Kabuto smiled to himself and went back to work. "Alright Yoji, your leg's as good as I can get it for now. Just stay off it for a day or two and it should be fine."

(Scene Break)

"_Y-You're almost there. Just push!"_

_An explosion rocked the room. Naruto could hear the screams but he couldn't see anything but a vague light. As he continued slowly inch his way forward, the light grew, and he could see a medic, face covered by a surgical mask. The room was in disarray, and as he slowly broke free from what was holding him, he could somehow recognize the room, despite having no memory of being there. The hunter-nin couldn't help but stare at him wondering, _'Who the hell are you?'

_The medic picked him up tentatively. He looked down at his face, eyes widened in awe, though Naruto couldn't figure out what. A weak voice called out. "Please, let me hold him…"_

"_A-ah. Of course, sorry Keiko-sama." The medic handed him over to a woman, soaked in sweat and dressed in a hospital gown. She had black hear, and a very pretty, but very pale face. Naruto couldn't help but find her nose and lips strikingly familiar._

_As she held him, he was vaguely aware of something on his body being cut. She smiled a sad, pained smile. "My little Naruto." Then it hit him._

'Mother?' _He reached out to her face, trying to get words across but only managed to babble incoherently. Her smile became more sincere, and she held out a finger for him to grasp. And Naruto felt a warmth that he'd never felt in his entire life. _'It's you,' _he thought, 'It's really you… I… can't believe it…' All too quickly her face grew paler, and her arms began to grow limp. He began to panic, as did the medic as he began to almost fall over himself trying to do something about the woman's failing health. She continued to smile at him while managing her final words to him._

"_Be a strong and kind boy."_

_Slowly her eyes drooped, and he quickly began to panic. _'No… No.'_ The medic pulled him into his arms again, but Naruto struggled, reaching for his mother and wailing. He could see the Nin heading for the door to the hallway, but continued to cry out, _'NO! Don't you DARE take me away from her! I won't lose her! Let me GO!'

_The medic was shaking now, and was mumbling. The child wondered if he was going insane. "I'm sorry Keiko-sama. I'm so, so sorry."_

_Naruto's screams had been echoing through the entire floor, and he saw that they had attracted the attention of a tall, blonde shinobi, who wore a flame-embroidered cloak over a usual jounin outfit. The medic handed Naruto over to him, but the ninja continued to look at him expectantly. "I-I'm so sorry Hokage-sama." His voice was cracking, "I couldn't save her."_

_The blonde man's face fell immediately, and he stumbled into a chair. He continued to cradle Naruto close to him, whose wails continued to pierce the silence between the two. The medic continued to apologize, and left, leaving the two in the hallway. Even in his own fury at being separated from his mother, Naruto couldn't help but notice the tears forming in the blonde man's eyes. He came to another realization as he first truly gazed at the man's face. _'Father… Yondaime-Hokage.' _He felt the rage that had subsided temporarily bubble back, and he screamed again. _'Damn you! How could you let her die! You bastard… She was your WIFE! What kind of Hokage are you!'

_The Fourth blinked back his tears, and regained his composure. He looked down at his son, and pressed a finger to his lips. "Hush Naruto." He shushed, "Now's not a time for tears. You and I… We've still got a mission to do."_

_Naruto stopped his crying almost immediately, and the Fourth smiled. He stood and walked resolutely to the nearest window, and leapt out. He landed evenly on the wall of the adjacent building and made his way to the roof. As he leapt from building to building, the Kyuubi raged in the distance. An old man began to run alongside the two of them. "Kazama!" He shouted. "What's happened! What are you doing with that child?"_

"_Keiko is dead, and I need Naruto with me." The Fourth said solemnly._

"_You're going to use _that_ technique?" A nod. "I'll go ahead with the others to distract the beast."_

_The older ninja tried to leave, but the Fourth stopped him, "Sarutobi, do you remember what we discussed before?"_

_Sarutobi grunted, "Yes, but I still don't like it."_

"_I know, but please do everything you can okay?" The Third nodded grimly and ran ahead. The Fourth looked down at his son, and gave that same sad smile that his mother had given him when he first saw her. "Naruto, someday you will be great hero. The greatest that Konoha has ever seen. Remember, your mother and I will always be proud of you no matter what you do._

"_**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!**"_

(Scene Break)

A woman in a trench coat, a hat and a pair of sunglasses made its way into the bar, trying to not gain the attention of the people in their and mostly failing. She sat down on a stool at the end of the bar, away from everyone else, and she began to tap her fingers nervously on the counter. The portly, jovial bartender waddled over to her position. "Evening ma'am. What can I get ya?"

"I'll have a-" She stumbled over her words for a few seconds, then mumbled "A Fire-Brand please."

The bartender cocked an eyebrow, then smiled even brighter. "Ah, so you want the special service. Well the room's in the back, so if you'll follow me."

He led her behind the bar, to a cramped storeroom. She wondered briefly if she had made a horrible mistake coming here until he opened trap door, and ushered her through. It was a small candle-lit room with a table and two chairs. A man was leaning back in one chair, feet on the table. He had long, tussled brown hair, narrowed eyes with small pupils, and red tattoo's on each cheek. He wore gray clothing and a green vest over it, and a blue headband with a metal plate and symbol which she could only assume to be of the Leaf. Two large wolf-like dogs lay at his face, ears pricked up and the carefully watched the newcomer. The man smirked as he spun a kunai on one finger. "You wanted to see me?"

She removed her sunglasses, "Y-yes, I have a request for your village."

He chuckled, "Well that's what I'm here for. What'cha got?"

"I want to seek asylum in the Leaf."

An eyebrow cocked, "May I ask what from?"

She slowly began to explain her story to him, and his eyes widened. He gave a bright grin, "Heh, I don't think the council will have a problem accepting your request." His face darkened, "Unfortunately, I can't really move you out of here until I get the okay, so you're going to have to wait a while lon-"

A knock came on the trap door again, and as it opened a white dog rushed through and jumped into the man's lap. He smiled, but his brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you doing back so early Shiro?" He reached under the collar, finding a note, which he pulled out and quickly scanned. Then his eyes widened in panic. "Shit! I'm sorry ma'am but I've got to go. Don't worry, I'll make sure that we send someone as soon as possible." He kicked open a hole in the wall, revealing a small tunnel, which the three animals quickly scrambled through. The man transformed into a young teenager, and ran out the trap door.

The barkeep entered the room shortly after the man had left, and frowned at the woman. "You'd better get home, and lay low for a while."

She nodded nervously and put her sunglasses back on, and made her way back to the street.

(Omake!)

Genya slammed the door to the faculty room open, and was morbidly pleased that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. "Alright, whose turn was it to soundproof their room?"

"It was Ness' turn." Kurama yawned.

Genya scoffed, "Figures, he's the only one who isn't here, not counting the obvious two of course."

Schala poured herself and Zelgadis some coffee, "That's because he can sleep through."

Zelgadis accepted the drink, muttering something about bastard psychics.

Janus growled, "I still don't understand why we don't go wake the little bastard up so he can suffer with us."

"Because he erects a barrier every time he falls asleep. With his powers, nothing short of destroying the entire castle could break it." Sakura said.

Janus smirked, forming a ball of dark energy in his palm "That could be arranged."

Harry sighed, "Please don't, I'd rather not go down in history as the Headmaster who blew up the castle in his first year. The tabloids follow me enough as is."

"Yeah," Botan added, "and you'd give me so much work that I'd kill you and force you to help me."

Several other professors had almost managed to fall asleep in their chairs when a scream of "Oh GOURRY!" pierced the air. The teachers all collectively sighed.

"I know they're newlyweds, but this is ridiculous." Arthur said.

"They're not newlyweds. They've been married for about half a year now." Zelgadis said in between sips of coffee.

"Fuckin…" Naruto trailed off, not sure how to react.

(Omake!)

AN: Read, Review Repeat


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